“This is because the majority of IB go by the book but many Bermudian employers don’t”

Care to back up these (spurious) claims? Do you have any idea how many actual employers there are in Bermuda and what percentage your “many” infractions equates to?

I don’t disagree there are likely a handful of problematic employers but “many”? I don’t think so.

Now, how about responding to the majority of my post dealing with revenues & expenditures?

Heres BDA immigration’s site http://www.gov.bm/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=214&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2

OHHHHH! THERE IT IS!!! the very last link after application fees, status & naturalization, contact us, land acquisitions & passports & visas. Seems like these other topics are far more prominently important to immigration. Along with all the listed above its immigrations job to catch illegal workers & in my opinion they do a poor job of it.

As you mentioned the PLP welcomes IB with open arms but IB is not the certain segment of foreign workers accused of taking jobs from Bermudians. This is because the majority of IB go by the book but many Bermudian employers don’t. PLP is not targeting any nationality when it comes to the over employment of foreign workers which would be xenophobic. Now when UBP stated deporting foreigners a few years before they lost position they were clear who they wanted out THE PORTUGUESE. Then again at the time there were hardly any other foreigners here working menial jobs. Then again I can argue why we need Portuguese masons but I would have zero case on why we need foreign sandwich makers unless there’s some special way I don’t know about to put on the mayo.

Also a building that is 25+ years old simply doesn’t attract the same rental rates as one built in the last 10 years.

I’m saying that they’re going to have to adjust to the new economic reality that is going to reshape this island for a very long time to come .

Besides , have you noticed the negligible returns on savings and investments over the last thrree years or so ? Did they lower their mortgage rates in the same way ?

And it’s not their money they do this with .. it’s ours

Well , for me and about 3000 others it’s a depression .

And it’s nowhere near over yet .

There are many companies trying to get a piece of BELCO’s pie at the moment in Bermuda but are finding it hard to get governments support. I think we all know why this is & its who LOL mentioned above.

When Canada split Ontario Hydro they didn’t move parts of Niagara as this would not be possible they just split ownership & told them to compete. Of course shareholders were miffed & protest but the Canadian Government just replied with the age old you cant have your cake metaphor.

The PLP welcome IB with open arms as long as they can simultaneously reach into their back pocket, however, the minute their core supporters start to feel the economic pinch (for which the PLP are ironically the main architect) the first thing they do is go after certain segment of the the foreign worker community accused of taking jobs from Bermudians.

As for Canada having the option of buying cheap power from the US and vice versa. Whilst I lived in Canada I never bought from the US cause Canadian energy was cheaper & while I lived in Connecticut I was told I would have to move up state more to get my power supply from Canada. Maybe this is why US is treading water in the recession amongst other reasons while Canada is on dry land.

And furthermore, what of the multitude of cases where what a person wants simply is not available from a local retailer? Why should a person be penalised if a what they want is not available locally? Retailers are notorious for “special orders” taking (literally!) months to arrive with no form of tracking or updates. You can’t even be certain that it will be the item you’ve ordered.

Again, retailers don’t give a broken bats eardrum about consumer wants or needs. They just want to control who we purchase from, what we purchase and the exorbitant price we pay.

Ride

First you get one party to announce an “outrageous” proposition; 35% duty. This gets the public all in a fury over the proposition. However, your aim is not 35% but 25% (which is just as outrageous).

To put the plan in motion you then have the other party announce the lower “more reasonable” 25%. Since you introduced the 35% as the intention any value below that will be more welcomed. Now the public calms down a bit as they feel they have been listened to and that they have exerted pressure to enact change.

But its all a farce! The public would have been just as outraged at the 25% if it was introduced first. 25% is a monstrous increase over the 6.5% and other lower duty rates that are currently in place.

The fact of the matter is that retail is dying because they refuse to innovate. Of all these whinging retailers, how many have an online store where you can purchase anything they have in stock and have it delivered to your door or office? You can’t purchase a pair of socks online from these businesses! They know that people shop online but rather than go to where the business is they choose to lobby to prevent consumer convenience.

How many of these whinging retailers have overseas warehouse space where they can stage how much upfront duty they pay? Also, their online orders could be fulfilled from this location further reducing upfront cost.

How many of these whinging retailers have opened up their audited books over the last 10 years so the public can see what their true status is? They are asking the public to pay to keep them open but the public has no information on their state. Are they talking a decrease from 80% profit to 40% profit? That is still profitable. Why should I have to pay for you on no information!?!

Retailers want us to purchase what they feel like bringing in at the ridiculous prices they charge (the overwhelming majority, but not all). Last year’s no-name brand electronics at prices I can land (direct non-courier/forwarding shipping + duty) two or more of this year’s name brand electronics. Clothing that is never in my size or something that I don’t wish to wear. Most experiences (55%) with service are abysmal.

Currently I support Buy Bermuda within reason. If it is the same product that I am looking for and if the Bermuda price is not too much higher (say, 5% to 10%) then what I can land it (direct non-courier/forwarding shipping and duty) I purchase Bermuda. Retailers, be forewarned that if shipping duty rates increase one iota that I will non-longer consider the Bermuda Retail percentage increase and will purchase from overseas if the difference is cheaper; even be it a penny.

Ride

I know initially it wouldn’t be well received by Gov’t to reduce a revenue stream by lowering the duty rate, but long term I think that as long as the retailers didn’t get too greedy (may be wishful thinking) more people would be convinced that ‘buying Bermuda’ isn’t so bad when there is only a few dollars difference between buying here (instant gratification!) and online / from the US when duty is factored in. (If you have more people buying goods at a cheaper price, is it not as good or better than having only a few buy goods at a more expensive price?)

At the end of the day, more people buying Bermuda means stimulus for the economy, which is good for everyone. Then maybe, just maybe, you might inspire a glimmer of confidence in this sad, sad excuse for a government.

Are you, the customer, willing to finance this breakup through higher rates – not lower – until the point where the new plant costs have been amortised? We simply don’t have the critical mass to effect many changes you see overseas. Bermuda is so small that there will be natural monopolies, whether we like it or not.

Whatever happened to a PLP Government committed to doing more with less? When an unsustainable 60% of tax revenue goes toward salary costs and interest expense it’s only a matter of time before the house of cards collapses on itself.

The Government needs to implement new policies to attract foreign capital rather than penalise consumers for thirteen years of PLP incompetence and ineptness. Steadily spiraling around the tax/debt toilet bowl is not a workable solution.

When will the PLP finally realise this and make the far reaching changes (and policy reversals) necessary to reignite our economic engine? Chipping around the edges and feeding into the xenophobia of their core will not help.

PLP – please stop putting your personal politics before the taxpayers’ and let’s put Bermuda first for a change.

LOL

If the retailers really want people to shop Bermuda, they should look at the specifics of what people are purchasing on-line, not just “clothing” but is it specific sizes?

Raising the duty will not stop me from purchasing overseas, but it will discourage me from buying in Bermuda.

It seems that all the decision makers are either landlords or have shares in BELCO because all seem to be skirting around the, “viable alternative” sitting on the tip of their noses. Overhead for rent & electricity is unreasonably high. Because business owners hands are tied when it comes to these overheads their only dealing with the alternatives wages & staff. If the government REALLY cared about keeping BDA business sector alive they would do what Canada’s government did to Ontario Hydro. Split BELCO & its shares into smaller companies. This would allow for competitive rates & the company with the best rates will prevail. Those who believe BELCO needed to up its rates for future servicing & replacement of their oil powered machinery need to open their eyes. Oil powered engines are archaic & there are better & cheaper alternatives. We are living under a farce that we are a democratic colony when the reality is BDA is still a corporate colony as it was in the 17th century. If we stay under BELCO’s & greedy landlord’s dictatorship much longer there will be no way back. These dictators DO NOT CARE because they already have off island houses they can run to when we become Jamaica the sequel but those who can’t afford to run should CARE.

LOL

Don’t throw all the blame on the retailer though they certainly deserve a big helping of it. Blame the system where the retailer has to finance the duty paid up front for stock that may sit on shelves for a long time.

Already been suggested but lost in all the noise, pay the duty/sales tax at the point of sale i.e. cash register as is done in so many countrys.

The only problem with this system, as far as Government is concerned, is that there would be far fewer customs staff needed to process all the paperwork as is done now.

Keep believing your own hype, facts are facts.

Back on topic, No to a standardized or increased duty. I buy everything abroad, as the style, variety and price in Bermuda is shocking. Eg, try buying a normal pair of jeans (at a normal price) on-island. You can’t. They are either ridiculously over priced, or covered in bling.

Companies like Mailboxes will re-package their service to be more like the Price-Busters guy / Conspec etc.

You tell them what to order, they then order it, bring it in for you and sell it to you.

Taking this one step further, what’s to stop me from setting up such an enterprise on a small scale for my friends and family? I become a small shop who brings stuff in on order for friends, then charge a small commission for the headaches of doing it. Of course, I’d need to find a friend to do the same for when I want to order stuff.

In the end, the local shops still don’t have any more customers, but the rest of us have a lot more headaches to deal with.

Companies like Mailboxes will re-package their service to be more like the Price-Busters guy / Conspec etc.

You tell them what to order, they then order it, bring it in for you and sell it to you.

Taking this one step further, what’s to stop me from setting up such an enterprise on a small scale for my friends and family? I become a small shop who brings stuff in on order for friends, then charge a small commission for the headaches of doing it. Of course, I’d need to find a friend to do the same for when I want to order stuff.

In the end, the local shops still don’t have any more customers, but the rest of us have a lot more headaches to deal with.

So I either buy my clothes locally and pay more. Or I pay the 17% increase and continue to ship in my clothes. Or I can knit my own clothes (although maybe not, if they put up the duty on wool)

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that, despite their poor selection and ridiculous prices, I don’t boycott the local shops. Hurray – I save a retail job.

However, I am now WORSE OFF, as I have less money in my pocket and a poorer selection of clothing.

So I have to save money elsewhere. So, for example, I cut the number of times I go to a restaurant each year.

Do you see what just happened? I SAVED a retail job, but I also DESTROYED a restaurant job, as that restaurant no longer gets my custom and the waiter no longer gets my tips.

How exactly have I been selfish? The only selfish people that I can see here are the retailers trying to persuade government to undermine their competitors.

It’s not just mailboxes and consumers who should be concerned about this. Anybody who works in any business which relies on people spending their discretionary income is going to suffer big time if this duty change comes in.

Then they’re going to have to ‘reset their (greedy) dial’ too ..

Buy a $900,000 piece of property today and end up paying the bank back 2 Mill over 30 years.. Yeah , right … I wasn’t born yesterday.. I’ll do without .

The days’ of unmitigated greed are OVER ! Everyone is going to have to get by on a lot ,lot less .