A tax policy report co-written by professors Roy Kelly and Graham Glenday in 2011 was recently cited in two articles in the Bahamas Tribune. The report, prepared for the Inter-American Development Bank following a field mission in 2010, warns that the country’s tax exemptions that discriminate in favor of locals are not in accordance with international practice.
“There is no good reason why richer Bahamians (owning expensive properties) on the Family Islands should not be contributing to the payment for government services,” the report states.
The report also found that foreigners owning vacant land in the Bahamas owe the government more than $156 million in unpaid real property taxes. The report was co-written by Wayne Forde, commissioner of land taxation for the Government of Barbados.
