The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Ministry of Finance’s top official said yesterday that the Value-Added Tax (VAT) Unit was happy with initial retail compliance on ‘inclusive’ pricing compliance, though this was not yet at 100 per cent.

    February 28 was the deadline for Bahamian retailers to complete the transition to VAT ‘inclusive’ pricing, which has been long opposed by the like of the Bahamas Federation of Retailers.

However, John Rolle, the financial secretary, said: “We are happy with the initial achievement. We are not at 100 per cent yet in every case, but there are many businesses where when you go in, the prices that you see are the prices that already have the VAT in them.

“As consumers get adjusted to that it is important for them in all cases to have the same experience, and we’re comfortable that in a lot of the very large stores, the VAT inclusive prices are widely displayed.

“You can see that, but you can still see that in some of those establishments they may have a bit more movement to go.”

Mr Rolle said officials from the Ministry of Finance’s VAT unit are supposed to bring to the attention of business owners any deficiencies that should be corrected. “In those cases you give business the opportunity to make the adjustments,” said Mr Rolle.

  The Bahamas Federation of Retailers (BFR), in a statement earlier this month, accused the Government of “dropping the ball” on VAT pricing, adding that it was “out of touch” with the reality of doing business in the Bahamas.

The BFR accused the Christie administration of deliberately choosing VAT ‘inclusive’ pricing to hide the increased tax burden on Bahamian consumers.