“WILD COOT, did you see that 13-year-old fellow that spoke on the occasion of the BLP march? The calf and the yearling will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11:6 (from an old lady).
This woman always misquoting the Bible, but today she was spot on. “Don’t you see, Wild Coot, that the prophecies are coming true? The youngster spoke better English than some of the ministers. I was surprised at those ministers who condemned him. Today children are born with better brains than we old-timers.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxine McClean wants the credit unions to play a greater role in advancing the economy, especially small businesses. She may be on the right track, but should not this be the focus of the commercial banks? Are they only to be parasites in the land?
I suppose that we are all “suckers” as we have been accused of sucking nipples. Should sucking our lifeblood be allowed to continue? That is my beef with the Central Bank. Banks are living off whatever fat there is and abusing the little foreign exchange available.
In Jamaica there has been an outcry about the spurious charges initiated by the banks. Imagine charging for exchanging local notes for smaller denominations. In St Vincent there was a strike against fees. The time has come for the Central Bank to stop the exploitation. (But Wild Coot, said a banker to me, what do you expect if the asset fees continually increase?)
The Sandals saga has left in its wake a basket of confusion. It now has a modern, fancy hotel that can attract worldwide guests to Barbados, but what is the use if the country does not benefit from foreign exchange?
In this all-inclusive atmosphere, a tourist comes to Barbados having paid for everything abroad. He is a guest at a hotel that has advantages over other hotels in Barbados. It can charge cheaper prices for food, accommodation and services (It avoids paying at least 40 per cent of its profit). He has everything luxuriously provided in the hotel, including five restaurants and a quiet beach.
Those tax concessions that we ceded are part of the undermining of our future. They are scheduled to last up until 2035, by which time all those responsible will be dead, except the 13-year-old lad. Why should you be harassing the private sector citizens to pay taxes when you have encouraged a hotel to exploit us? We seem to have had blight since we were unable to concede a private beach at Four Seasons.
Two things those tax concessions have done. Other hotels may be emulating what Sandals may be doing by leaving their hotel payment abroad, and we have created an uneven playing field tax-wise. Do not think that the private sector is far behind in this behaviour.
People are saying, “Brek fuh yuhself like the politicians”. Antigua had the guts to do something about it. Do not make the stupid argument that investors are mindful if you have a vastly one-sided agreement renegotiated.
But there is more. You say that there is heavy unemployment in Barbados. How come every evening hundreds of workers are seen trekking up to St Lawrence Main Road and very few of them are Bajans? Not that I am against fellows from other islands picking a berry.
I would not be surprised if the funding of these workers was supported by one of our local commercial banks, seeing how cheap our savings are. Seems like the lion and the leopard lying together now, like what the old lady told me.
Did we not expect foreign exchange from payment of wages; if payment originates in Barbados dollars, how is it repaid and where? Is this going to happen with Hyatt whenever it starts? David, help!
The problem is that we have developed an uneven structure. Government wants income; it taxes salaries, electricity, telephone, food at port and in the supermarket, property, road usage, medicine, pensions, rum shops and other areas too numerous to mention.
Public servants go ten years without an increase, but the union claims victory merely because the Government condescends to a meeting. What do the citizens get in return?
The Wild Coot does not have to mention what benefits have been lost over the past ten years. In addition, there are complaints in respect of water, sewage, roads, garbage, hospital, unlit roads. Even the Wild Coot is fed up.
Small wonder then, that there has been a silent reaction involving leakage and hoarding of foreign exchange in Barbados in respect of the tax concession benefits that have been given to Sandals.
• Harry Russell is a banker. Email: quijote70@gmail.com