Minister: ‘Only logical’ to assess tax info stance

As of Thursday, April 27, 2017

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet Minister yesterday conceded it was “only logical” for the Bahamas to now re-evaluate its position on automatic tax information as a result of the European Union’s (EU) hardline stance, saying: “We want to make sure we do what’s best for the country”.

Hope Strachan, minister of financial services, who addressed an industry briefing on the automatic exchange of tax information, acknowledged that the Bahamas was being heavily criticised internationally for its approach to implementing the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

The Bahamas has been seeking to do this through bilateral agreements without having signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance (MAC) - a key demand of the Organisation for Econmic Co-Operation and Development, EU and its members.

Mrs Strachan added that this has created the perception that the Bahamas is deliberately holding out from signing the MAC in order to develop an unfair competitive advantage over financial services jurisdictions, and to attract undeclared funds to this nation.

“Our strategy for implementing the CRS has been progressing steadily,” she said. “In fact, we have accomplished much in a very short period of time. Although this has been acknowledged by the OECD, we must now consider if it is enough to allow us to meet our commitment to CRS implementation in 2018.

“The Bahamas has made a choice, and was by no means trying to have an unfair advantage, but had chosen the approach best suited to the financial services industry. We remain committed to that approach.”

Mrs Strachan told Tribune Business that the purpose of the industry briefing was to allow industry participants to hear directly from the OECD.

“We believe that the private sector, along with Government, will shape the policy going forward,” she explained. “The point of the industry briefing is to make a determination as to whether we will change our position on signing the multilateral convention.

“We want to do what is best for the industry and ensure that we have an industry that could survive. So many jobs ride on the fact that we have an industry that is vibrant, clean and compliant. We want to make sure that we do what is best for the country,” Mrs Strachan continued.

“I think it is a decision that has to be made after the widest consultation. Whether it be the incumbent government or another administration, the facts would be there, the consultation would have been had and the best advice would have already have been solicited.”

Tribune Business revealed earlier this week that the Bahamas is under growing pressure to bow to international demands that it automatically exchange tax information on a ‘multilateral’ basis, with the European Union (EU) and its members refusing to accept this nation’s preferred approach.

The Bahamas previously agreed to implement the CRS, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) global standard for automatic tax information exchange, via a bilateral approach that involved negotiating agreements on an individual country-by country basis.

However, the OECD and its developed country members have been steadily increasing the pressure on the Bahamas to switch to the ‘multilateral’ approach, requiring this country to negotiate tax deals with all-comers at once.

The Bahamas has been left exposed by the decisions of Hong Kong, Panama and the United Arab Emirates to switch from the bilateral to multilateral approach, which has left this nation as the last international financial centre (IFC) of significance that is sticking to the former.

Socrates 6 years, 12 months ago

we need to have some national pride. i say, f*#k 'em. lets fold up the offshore banking if thats what they want.. everything should not be negotiable. people can find other jobs at bahamar. in any event, the way its been going with these banks, the days are numbered for those jobs anyway .. u agree to this and they will cone witg sonething else.. never mind what you call it, its still blackmail..

Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 12 months ago

All of this never ending blacklisting after black listing after blacklisting is tantamount to the unlawful imposition of economic sanctions against the Bahamas by elitist organizations that have a deceitfully hideous self-serving agenda aimed at creating a New World Order to fulfill the ambition of global rule. The blacklisting is designed to mercilessly cripple our smaller (defenseless) developing nation so that other much larger developed nations (like the OECD countries) can much more easily exploit for themselves (and at much less cost to themselves) our natural resources, including our utility enterprises. Already the blacklisters have moved from our shores to their shores, and within their own borders, much of the very lucrative and thriving offshore financial business that we enjoyed prior to the 1990s. Successive Bahamian governments and the brightest minds in our legal and banking communities have just stood by and allowed this nonsense to continue. From the late 1980's we have allowed ourselves to be wrongfully labelled as facilitating foreign nationals to evade payment of the taxes they owe in their home countries. But as a tax friendly jurisdiction of our own sovereign choosing, we have never had, nor should we ever be expected to have, a duty to help police and protect the tax base of other countries at our expense. All of this foolishness was absurd from the outset. As the OECD countries increase the tax burden on their citizenry to unreasonable levels, they force an increase in our burden and expense of policing and protecting their unreasonably high tax bases. The blacklisters and the international lending agencies are working together to turn the Bahamas into a high taxing jurisdiction so that they can then claim their so called hideous exchange of tax information agreements have validity through reciprocity, i.e. they will in turn help the Bahamas police and protect its own tax base. But all of this blacklisting foolishness is nothing but an effort to disguise the blacklisters' true agenda, which is the wrongful stealing of our financial services economy and our other natural resources for their own benefit to the detriment of the standard of living and quality of life of all Bahamians.

Reality_Check 6 years, 12 months ago

The OECD countries also don't like the idea that we have an exchange control regime with the Bahamian dollar supposedly still pegged at par against the U.S. dollar. They would like nothing more than to see our country destabilized (as a result of their ever increasing burdensome requirements) to the point where our Bahamian dollar is significantly devalued and made to float against the U.S. dollar. This is their ultimate goal which will allow them and their greedy corporate interest groups to acquire our natural resources, utility enterprises, etc. at bargain basement prices, leaving the Bahamian people to be nothing but economic slaves for their new foreign masters!