business@tribunemedia.net
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2021
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BRITISH COLONIAL HILTON
Law firm break-up blew Hilton lift plunge lawsuit • Hotel maid lost out in Lockhart & Munroe split • Judge finds she sued wrong firm for ‘negligence’ • But orders Munroe’s new practice to repay $300 By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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• Realtor: Middle class paying higher tax rate than millionaires • Urges $60,000 property tax cap to be raised to low six-figures • And calls for further adjustments to make system progressive
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN realtor yesterday argued that “the freebie for the mega wealthy has got to stop” as he urged the Government to exploit the current high-end real estate boom to boost property tax revenues. Christopher Armaly, a prominent broker and appraiser, told Tribune Business the newly-elected Davis administration should particularly seek to raise a $60,000 annual real property tax cap that results in middle class Bahamians effectively paying a higher tax rate than persons with homes valued $10m and above. All owner-occupied homes, meaning those residences used exclusively as dwellings by their owners, enjoy a tax break on the first $250,000 of their property’s valuation. A rate of
0.625 percent is applied to the next $250,000, and this increases to 1 percent for the remaining portion of the valuation above $500,000. However, Mr Armaly said the $60,000 maximum limit on annual real property tax payments effectively leaves a $40m property owner’s tax rate at just 0.15 percent. This is four times’ below the rate applied to the $250,000-$500,000 portion of a property’s worth. Applying the cap to properties valued at $30m, $20m and $10m results in effective tax rates of 0.2 percent; 0.3 percent; and 0.6 percent respectively, all below the property tax rate that middle class Bahamians - who have less income and ability to pay - face on owner-occupied residences between $250,000 and $500,000. Highlighting this as a regressive aspect of The Bahamas’ real property tax regime, Mr Armaly urged the new administration to increase the real property tax cap
CHRISTOPHER ARMALY
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Fiscal Council wanted more recovery evidence By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Fiscal Responsibility watchdog’s chairman last night revealed it had wanted to see more evidence to support the Government’s belief “of a rapid return to normalcy” following the COVID-19 pandemic. Kevin Burrows, speaking after the Fiscal Responsibility Council released its first-ever evaluation, an assessment of the Government’s 2020 Fiscal Strategy Report, told Tribune Business it had wanted to see more metrics, timelines and “explicit reasons” on “the underlying drivers that will get us back to trend” so quickly post-pandemic.
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Activists urge ‘permanent’ ban on all oil exploration ENVIRONMENTAL activists yesterday urged the Davis administration to impose a total ban on oil drilling in Bahamian waters after an explorer confirmed it has still to settle outstanding licence fees due to the Government. Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Waterkeepers Bahamas, told Tribune Business it was “embarrassing” that the former Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) had now moved on to more promising exploration territory in Trinidad & Tobago without first settling its debts to this nation. Calling on Challenger to “acknowledge debts owed to all creditors”, she said: “It’s embarrassing to see that Challenger Energy Group who, after not finding commercial quantities of oil, are considering moving on to another Caribbean country without settling its debt to the Bahamian people. “The Davis administration began its term with a strong platform when the Prime Minister spoke to the United Nations (UN), and that includes becoming a sustainable country knowing the effects that climate change has on small island
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‘Freebie for mega wealthy must end’
A HOTEL maid’s bid to obtain financial redress from the British Colonial Hilton was scuppered by the break-up of a law firm then co-headed by a newly-elected Cabinet minister. Margo Thompson had approached the now-dissolved Lockhart & Munroe law firm in an effort to hire Wayne Munroe QC, now minister of national security, to initiate legal action over injuries she suffered when the resort’s elevator plunged from the sixth to the ground floor during a November 2005 power outage.
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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developing states like The Bahamas. “To show how serious we are about what we have experienced, and what we expect can happen, placing a permanent ban on oil drilling within our borders
must be a strong point for the Davis administration. We should not contribute to an industry that is leading to our demise as an industry.” However, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), while
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