Bahamas Government Promotes E-Commerce

Mandy Robinson, Tax-news.com, London

14 September 2000

Businesses who embrace the internet in the Bahamas can expect to increase productivity and, of course, profits - this is the message according to government official, Rowena Bethel. At a recent conference entitled "Benefits of E-Commerce for the Bahamas", Ms Bethel, Ministry of Finance legal advisor, explained: 'as the Bahamas dispenses greater internet connectivity and having regard to our archipelago makeup in particular ... the market will no doubt play an even greater role in servicing the on-line economy.'

Ms Bethel is supporting a series of workshops and seminars that are to take place at the Bahamas College. The training programme is part of the Government's drive to promote an awareness of the benefits of e-commerce for individuals and companies alike. The aim is to provide detailed information and practical training for both the public and private sectors in areas such as Web Professional Training and E-Commerce.

At the conference Ms Bethel expounded the importance of the internet for businesses in the Bahamas. She argued that the greatest advantage to be gained by e-commerce is its ability to allow them to operate on a level playing field, within the global economy, with other countries. Furthermore, Ms Bethel added that a growing world economy generally provides greater disposable income, and consumers are recognizing the ease with which they can purchase goods and services from such a medium. She also points out the that the internet offers a 'wider choice to the Bahamian consumer, a fickle creature at best, with well cultivated discerning tastes, who now has the option through the internet to purchase goods and services far beyond the reaches of our borders and Miami in both business to business and business to consumer markets.'

Ms. Bethel sees the Internet as an essential vehicle for participating in the new global economy, and a company must possess an Internet strategy within its business plan. If it does not, then it will lack the competitive advantage it needs to survive and grow. Ms Bethel states: 'the world today is far more interdependent and interconnected than many of us are aware, advances in communications technology have made it possible to enjoy interaction on commercial, social and other levels in ways unimaginable a few years back ... this has meant that through the medium of the Internet we have the ability to access information and engage in activities with parties from any location in the world in real time.'

However, not all are embracing e-commerce with open arms, as may have been demonstrated by the Bahamas' recent inclusion on a list of 'harmful and uncooperative tax havens' by the OECD. In an interview on Bahamas' radio last month, James Smith, the Bahamas Ambassador for Trade and Investment, was of the opinion that the recent blacklisting had come about because the jurisdiction is making a grand push into e-commerce.

Also interviewed on the radio programme was Ian Fair of the Bahamas Financial Services Board who said '"Offshore","tax haven" and "secrecy" are the buzz words words that the world is gripping onto and saying these are why we don't want countries like the Bahamas. But the reality is they have 'woken up to the fact that the world has become very mobile. The large countries of the world have encouraged this mobility, they have encouraged world trade now, all of a sudden, they realize that their tax base is mobile too and they are very concerned about it.'

Mr Smith's particular concern lies with the growing e-commerce sector and the problems it is causing for countries seeking to collect sales taxes. He said 'At the same time while this is going on we have e-commerce going where companies can move offshore through cyber space and they can sell a product. You can no longer collect your sales taxes, let's say on a CD the sales tax is about seven percent in New York. You download a CD from a place in Freeport immediately the New York guy loses his seven-percent sales tax. Multiply that by numerous companies.'

But Ms Bethel is adamant that operating via the Internet can help businesses to achieve faster results and productivity, furthermore it is increasingly becoming cheaper to use. She explains: 'puchasing tickets online for example, indeed purchasing goods and services on line, generally works out far cheaper in most instances than purchases from the traditional bricks and mortar establishments, it is cheaper for the supplier and cheaper for the consumer.'

According to the Bahamas Journal, statistics demonstrate that countries where the populace has the greatest awareness of, and access to, information technology, also enjoy a huge amount of on-line sales. It is estimated that around 12,500 Bahamas' households are connected to the World Wide Web, and the Government has introduced a reduction in the duty on computers in the effort to encourage more Bahamians to become users.

Ms Bethel expects that future employment in the Bahamas will follow the same pattern of leading IT nations - increased usage of the Internet will lead to a huge demand for jobs in the IT sector. She concludes: 'we can expect the next generation Internet to expand to cover more and more of the world as it continues to enter the mainstream of telecommunications, commerce and daily life. The Internet should be for everyone, everywhere and anytime. Internet is the true base for the global infrastructure for all human beings.'

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