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MONDAY, JULY 19, 2021
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Property tax amnesty gains ‘north of $27m’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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he Government has reeled in “north of $27m” via its ongoing real property tax amnesty, a top official has revealed, with calls from additional delinquents for more time prompting a three-month extension. Marlon Johnson, the Ministry of Finance’s acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business that the Government was persuaded to extend the initiative to end-August after receiving “sufficient” pleas from tax-paying deadbeats for extra time to accumulate the necessary funds to make good on their arrears. Confirming that sums recovered to-date are “slightly ahead” of where the ministry had projected, he added that taxpayers were being given “every chance to get their affairs
TOURISM CHIEF ‘PRAYING’ FOR VACCINATION UPTICK By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president yesterday said he is “praying” more persons become vaccinated at the next available opportunity as it is the “only way to combat COVID spikes”. Robert Sands, telling Tribune Business that Saturday’s 100 new infections are “concerning” for the tourism industry’s continuing recovery prospects, said he was “anxiously awaiting” the arrival of more COVID-19 vaccines as they
The Ministry of Finance’s top official has pledged that Customs will make whatever adjustments are necessary to ensure its Click2Clear system “operates within the law” in Freeport and wider Grand Bahama. Marlon Johnson, its acting financial secretary, seeking to ease concerns that Click2Clear’s so-called “free trade zone” module will violate both the Hawksbill Creek Agreement and previous Supreme Court
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
MARLON Johnson It doesn’t bleed into the next billing cycle, so we didn’t think there was any harm from a technical standpoint. We want to give people as much chance to get their affairs in order, so that whatever enforcement steps we take
moving forward, persons have sufficient time to take advantage of opportunities to bring their account current.” Mr Johnson declined to detail the timing and nature of any compliance/ enforcement measures the Government may take when it comes to outstanding real property taxes, but added: “Any measures we proceed to take, we want to be in a position to tell folks to use this opportunity to sort out their affairs. “We’re comfortable going forward that persons will have had a chance, and a second chance, to get their accounts in order. Most people are heeding that. The response has been solid, it has been
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AML Foods will have “mapped out” plans to develop a new shopping centre off Charles Saunders Highway, anchored by its Solomon’s “neighbourhood” food store concept, by early 2022 at the latest. Gavin Watchorn, the BISX-listed food retail and franchise group’s president, told Tribune Business “initial design work” for the site opposite Gerald Cash Primary School has already begun and “expressions of interest” from businesses wanting to be part of the development have already been received. While explaining that it was too early to give details, such as the level of investment, jobs created and number of retail spaces that will ultimately be available, he confirmed AML Foods’ intent to seek a joint venture partner to carry out the development. Mr Watchorn added that AML Foods’ development plant for a site it already owns will ensure the group
“works within our financial capacity and our human resources capacity”, with the objective being to give existing staff opportunities for promotion to run the new store. “We have begun planning on that, yes,” the AML Foods chief responded, when asked by this newspaper about the Charles Saunders Highway location. “Our plan for that site is to create a shopping centre with a Solomon’s neighbourhood store as the anchor tenant. “We’ve had interest from a number of businesses to be part of that centre. We’re in the process of some initial design work, and then will begin the conversation to find a joint venture partner to work with us on that.” Confirming that no development timeline for the Charles Saunders Highway project has yet been established, Mr Watchorn said: “Our goal right now is to map out a development plan that allows us to hit our growth targets but also
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represented “the only way out of this pandemic” for The Bahamas and wider world. With the Government’s COVID emergency powers due to expire in August, the tourism chief said “the lagging pace of vaccinations has made it a much more difficult decision” for the Government on whether it should be completely lifted or some elements retained. Mr Sands said that while protocols such as mask wearing and social distancing will likely remain, The Bahamas cannot afford any further
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CUSTOMS ‘WILL OPERATE WITHIN THE LAW’ ON GB By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
AML’S CHARLES SAUNDERS PLAN READY BY EARLY 2022
* Three-month extension as delinquents plead for more time * Sum ‘slightly ahead’ of Ministry of Finance’s expectations * Top official defends move on charge good payers ignored in order” so that there will be no cause for complaint or excuse when the Government takes enforcement measures to recover tax arrears estimated by the AuditorGeneral’s Department to exceed $600m. “Just north of $27m has been collected as part of the real property tax amnesty programme,” Mr Johnson told this newspaper. “It has been extended for three months. We got a number of requests from taxpayers saying they were desirous of paying but just didn’t have the money, and felt they could have got the funds together if given a reasonable frame of time. “We had sufficient of them to make a petition to the policymakers, which they have granted.
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judgments, told Tribune Business he was confident the matter will be “resolved to the satisfaction of all stakeholders” when Customs meets with Freeport’s private sector this week. Speaking after Grand Bahama’s cross-border commerce was forced back to manual clearance processes for the next month-and-a-half prior to Click2Clear’s planned September 1 implementation, he added that the existing Electronic Customs Automated System (eCAS) would incur too much “cost
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