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Tuesday, april 14, 2026
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Ginn tax break-up won’t ‘deliver Bahamas’ goals’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE near-$10m tax dispute that is blocking an ambitious $6.5bn proposal for the former Ginn project has been pushed back until end-June, Tribune Business can reveal, amid assertions that selling off the property’s largest land parcel to recover this debt will not “deliver The Bahamas’ goals”. Legal documents obtained by this newspaper reveal the Department of Inland Revenue was warned some 18 months ago that seizing the 1,143acre parcel, then auctioning it off in a bid to recover unpaid real property taxes, was unlikely to facilitate the West End development’s revival due to the complexity surrounding its “disrepair and abandonment”. Daniel Baker, an executive with Reunion Cay Island Resort LLC, which is the managing agent for the landholding companies disputing the tax debt with the Department of Inland Revenue, argued that any investor seeking to redevelop the former Ginn project would need to acquire all land parcels - not just the 1,143-acre tract - because of how they are linked to each other. And, pointing to further complexities that have inhibited the search for buyers and the development’s rebirth, Mr Baker told Antonio Maycock, an official with the Department of Inland Revenue’s revenue enhancement unit, via an October 21, 2024, e-mail that the situation is made “exponentially more challenging” by
Department of Inland Revenue warned over 1,143-acre sell-off Hearing over $9.7m unpaid taxes dispute delayed till end-June West End project ‘brought to knees’ after ‘unparalleled success’ the fact 213 vacant lots have already been sold to individual purchasers. He asserted that selling-off the 1,143-acre parcel would merely “further divide ownership” and “devalue” what remains of the former Ginn property, while sparking litigation that would again delay the revival of Grand Bahama’s West End. And Mr Baker further warned that any purchaser seeking to buy through the auction process without doing further investigation “should be a red flag to government that the bidder most probably doesn’t know what they are doing”. His alerts emerged as LRA-OBB and Resorts Holdings, the two companies that hold the combined 1,931 acres that comprise the failed Ginn development, saw their Tax Appeal Commission challenge to the Department of Inland Revenue’s valuation,
Development Plan Institute ‘needed more teeth’ in Bill BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE National Development Plan’s chairman yesterday disclosed he opted not to rush legislation that would give it a legal footing through Parliament before the general election because it “needed more teeth” and was critical to “get right”. FELIX STUBBS Felix Stubbs, who heads the Plan’s steering committee, told Tribune Business that he and other executives were given a “heads-up” by Prime Minister Philip Davis KC that he planned to call an early election. They were given the choice of proceeding to Parliament with the Bill in its current state, or waiting until after the general election to make necessary amendments, and they chose the latter. While admitting to “personal disappointment” that the National Development Planning Institute Bill 2026 did not make the House of Assembly’s legislative agenda prior to the May 12, 2026, general election, he nevertheless added that he “has a great deal of confidence” that it will be among the top priorities for the new administration regardless of who wins at the polls. While the Davis administration has provided the steering committee with assurances that it will be among “the first pieces of legislation produced” when Parliament reconvenes, Mr Stubbs said Michael Pintard, the Opposition leader, has also signalled his support for the Bill. This has been reinforced by the Free National Movement’s (FNM) general election campaign manifesto, which listed
CREATE - See Page B2
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s chairman yesterday branded the party’s target of increasing stopover visitors by 35 percent over the next five years, if re-elected to office, as “perfectly reasonable” while asserting it was “careful not to go crazy” with its election promises.
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s chairman yesterday hailed the party’s pledge to replace Business Licence fees with a corporate income tax as “a more equitable and progressive approach” in a package of measures designed to “rev up” economic growth to 3-4 percent annually. Dr Duane Sands told Tribune Business that switching from the turnover-based Business Licence fees to a tax levied on net profits will be fairer and “makes an awful lot of sense”. He added that it was but one factor “dampening economic growth” as the Free National Movement (FNM) also promised to do away with the practice of companies having to estimate and pay Business Licence fees for the upcoming year in advance. “We will replace the current unfair Business Licence tax that requires businesses to pay a tax on gross turnover, even when they are losing money, with a fairer net earnings-based tax that will allow for targeted tax breaks for
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Dr Duane Sands told Tribune Business that a Free National Movement (FNM) administration will lean on Airbnbs and other types of vacation rentals to help accommodate what would be a more than 591,000 increase in stopover visitors by 2031 to hit this goal - a mark he conceded was “ambitious but doable”.
A BAHAMIAN property and casualty insurer yesterday asserted that the downgrade of its financial strength and creditworthiness by the industry’s top rating agency does not reflect “any deterioration” in its balance sheet as it pledged to take swift corrective “action”. Timothy Ingraham, chief executive of Summit Insurance Company, through which Insurance Management places much of its property and casualty business, told Tribune Business that the underwriter “remains as strong as ever” and stakeholders including policyholders should take “comfort” from that. In a messaged response to Tribune Business inquiries, he signalled that AM Best’s decision to downgrade Summit’s financial strength rating from
FNM chair: It’s a ‘fairer approach to taxation’ Pledges ‘Taxpayer Charter’ for clear standard Firms ‘held hostage’ by ‘heavy hand’ approach productive capital expansion, charitable giving and social contribution,” the FNM’s just-released election campaign manifesto pledged. “It will also end the unfair practice of Bahamian entrepreneurs being forced to pay next year’s licence fees in advance. This will help ensure that companies generating substantial profits pay their fair share, whilst making it easier to grow. The rate will be set after consultation to achieve the correct balance between domestic producers, importers and service-based businesses, and will ensure The
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The FNM camone-third in five paign manifesto, years also came released on Sunday despite the FNM night, commits the manifesto, in the party to “target a very same sen35 percent increase tence, asserting in stopover visithat a Michael tors” although it Pintard-led adminprovides little to istration will focus no detail about more on visitor how this will be spending - and, in DR DUANE SANDS achieved. Dr Sands, particular, tourthough, argued ism’s economic that The Bahamas impact and whether this is has “lost some ground” to impacting Bahamian busiCaribbean tourism rivals and nesses and workers - as needs to regain that by revers- opposed to arrivals figures. ing recent stopover arrivals “Consistent with this stratdeclines and then “eclipsing” egy, we will seek to deliver their growth rates. more stopover visitors, The goal of increasing stopGROW - See Page B4 over numbers by more than
Summit says ‘as strong as ever’ despite downgrade BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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Business Licence for corporate income tax swap to ‘rev up’ GDP
and proposed seizure and auction, pushed back until end-June. The latest delay does not favour Coakley International and its affiliate, Bristol Pointe Ltd, which had previously agreed a deal with the Department of Inland Revenue to purchase the 1,143 acre tract, which accounts for 59 percent of the former Ginn property, for $26m after paying a $2.6m deposit. It has previously unveiled ambitions for a development that would create 2,800 construction jobs and 6,000 permanent posts for Bahamians, but these plans have had to be put on hold for now. An April 12, 2026, Supreme Court Order has given LRA-OBB Ltd and Resorts Holding further protection, as both the Department of Inland Revenue and Treasurer have pledged “not to complete the sale of the property…. until after the completion of the appeal proceedings lodged”. They are alleging that a $21m valuation difference with the Bahamian tax authorities has resulted in them being over-charged real property tax by “more than 75 percent-plus”. Mr Baker and Reunion Cay, in their capacity as managing agents for LRA-OBB Ltd and Resorts Holding, previously warned the Department of Inland Revenue that selling off the former Ginn project’s real estate piecemeal would undermine its value and only delay a potential revival by making a new investor’s work much more complicated. “The Sur Mer property is complex,” Mr Baker warned Mr Maycock. “The
‘Careful not to go crazy’: FNM eyes 35% stopover visitor jump
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‘A-’ (Excellent) to ‘B++’ “Good’, albeit with a stable outlook, was driven by events beyond the general insurer’s control. Besides increased reinsurance premium costs, following Hurricane Dorian’s 2019 payouts and other major storms that struck elsewhere in the Caribbean, AM Best also cited “the largest fire loss” in the company’s history that occurred during the 2025 second quarter. While the fire was not identified by either Mr Ingraham or AM Best, it is more than likely the blaze which destroyed AML Foods’ Solomon’s Old Trail and Cost Right stores plus the building that the Department of Labour was due to move into. AML Foods disclosed that it received more than $23m as a payout on its initial fire-related insurance claim. Mr Ingraham said yesterday of AM Best’s
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