Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Philip Davis led debate on the 2023-2024 mid-year budget in the House Of Assembly on Wednesday.
In his mid-year budget communication, two weeks ago, Davis announced the government’s intention to introduce an income tax regime geared toward multinational companies making at least 750 Euros. The Prime Minister told Parliamentarians, “there are some who are angered by our approach. They’re thinking how dare we go after the elite. Some people have been evading their business license fees, their customs duties and real property taxes for so long. And now it feels like they are being targeted to finally pay what they owe. As the quote goes ‘when you are accustomed to privilege equality feels like oppression.'”
Davis promised no new taxes for the average Bahamian and said that the government will continue to collect taxes. “As much as I’d like to live in a future in which many Bahamians own multinational companies bringing in a billion dollars a year, we are not there yet as a country. So we can safely say that not a single Bahamian owned venture will be directly affected by this tax. And through this tax we hope to generate an additional $140 million dollars per year in government revenue.”
The Prime Minister added, “the government will benefit from the collection of up to $800 million in real property tax arrears. In fact, we have already began the collecting of these monies owed.
Parliamentarians were also informed that revenues are reportedly up by approximately $72.9 million over year, the gross domestic product rate is over 4% and that the net deficit is decreasing.
