business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2022
$6.63
$6.63
Port row owners in residency woe By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE US family battling the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) has cause for further Bahamian frustration - the Government’s failure to process three separate permanent residency applications despite their $41m investment in this nation. The Del Zotto family, which is closing down its Gold Rock concrete manufacturing operation and all other Freeport-based business interests with the loss of 130 jobs, made its last application to the Immigration Department for such status almost three years ago under the former Minnis administration. Well-placed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly,
told Tribune Business the submission had not even merited a response from Immigration. With the Davis administration keen to keep the Del Zottos in Freeport despite the impasse with the GBPA and its subsidiaries, they suggested significant goodwill could be created if the Government were to finally move on the permanent residency application. “They never had a response in three years,” one source said of the Del Zottos’ last application. “And this was at least their second, and probably third, application. That’s par for the course. They treat everybody that way - both governments. It shows you how the Government treats the applications and the investors. “The Prime Minister is all up in arms, but the
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net PLANNING authorities have given the go-ahead for a controversial Lyford Cay condo project provided its height is reduced by onethird - and the number of units slashed by 30 percent - to address “overdevelopment” concerns. Keenan Johnson, the Town Planning
Committee’s chairman, told Tribune Business that “after extensive deliberations” on Tuesday it had decided to allow the development proposed by Eastmor Properties, headed by Michael Dingman’s son, to proceed to the next stage of the approvals process provided the number of units is reduced by 22. He added, via What’s App message, that the
SEE PAGE B8
$6.30
‘Shoulder’ hotel occupancies 5-10% pts higher than norm • Stronger performance expected for slowest months • ‘Nudging closer’: Tourism just 10-15% off pre-COVID • Inflation hits food and drink costs with 10-25% rises
THE DEL Zotto family continues its campaign against the GBPA with a sign mounted outside Gold Rock’s Freeport premises. Photo:Facebook
• Gold Rock principals get no Immigration reply • Three applications made; last one in 2019 • Gov’t presses GBPA to get Del Zottos back SEE PAGE B6
Lyford Cay condo has to slash units by 30%
$6.66
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN hotels are eyeing occupancies between five to ten percentage points higher than the norm for the industry’s slowest months, it was revealed yesterday, as it “nudges closer every day” to pre-COVID levels. Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism
SEE PAGE B7
ROBERT SANDS
Cigarette supplier loses multi-million tax battle By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A Freeport-based cigarette manufacturer’s claim that it was “unlawfully compelled” to pay millions of dollars in Excise Tax to Bahamas Customs was yesterday dismissed in its entirety by a Supreme Court judge.
Caribbean Tobacco Enterprises, producer of the Palms cigarette brand, had alleged it was exempt from these tax payments under both the Excise Tax Act 2013 and Excise Stamp (Tobacco Products Control Act) 2013 despite paying some $11m to Customs between 2014 and 2019. It also asserted that the tax exemptions conferred
by the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, Freeport’s founding treaty, meant no such payments should have been incurred but Justice Diane Stewart found the company’s case to be entirely without merit. She ruled that because Caribbean Tobacco Enterprises’ products are “consumables”, meaning they are sold
to individual consumers rather than fellow businesses, the manufacturer was “not entitled to a general exemption from the Excise Tax for its tobacco products manufactured and processed in the Port area”. And, as a result, Customs was lawfully able to levy Excise Tax at 15 cents per cigarette produced.
SEE PAGE B4
‘Misguided’ focus over corporate income tax By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government’s approach to corporate income tax has been branded “misguided” by a prominent banker because the focus is largely on ensuring compliance with international demands. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business this nation should instead view corporate income tax possibilities as part of a wider reform package designed to make the Bahamian tax system more
GOWON BOWE progressive where the burden falls most heavily on those who can afford to pay more. “The position on the corporate tax is to me
SEE PAGE B5