06052025 BUSINESS by tribune242

THURSDAY, JUNE 5,

Opposition MP hits ‘desperation’ over $100m VAT evasion

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

AN Opposition MP yesterday asserted the Government is enacting “desperation” measures to crack down on tax avoidance said to be costing it $100m annually, warning: “One day the well will run dry.”

Adrian White, the St Anne’s MP, and a real estate and commercial attorney by profession, told Tribune Business that the enhanced compliance and enforcement measures conﬁrmed by the Prime Minister during his Budget opening address threaten to “squeeze” a sector that generates signiﬁcant tax revenues for the Government - especially since the economy emerged from its post-COVID lockdown.

He hit out after Philip Davis KC also revealed that planned VAT Act reforms, which require Bahamian realtors to inform the tax authorities of all newly-constructed property sales, and those involving land set to be employed for such new builds, within 30 days of closing or be exposed to sanctions equal to 3 percent of the transaction’s value, will now be extended to all real estate deals.

This is designed to ensure all Bahamasbased land, property and real estate sales are swiftly reported to the Department of Inland Revenue in the Government’s latest bid to crack down on what it alleges to be signiﬁcant avoidance, and evasion, of VAT payable on such transactions. Mr Davis admitted that previous efforts to close loopholes, and bolster compliance, produced “disappointing” results.

“In previous Budget communications and statements to this House, I have spoken about the under-performance on VAT on real estate. I have also introduced a variety of measures to address this under performance, including an

Union chief ‘blindsided’ by civil service wage increase

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) president yesterday said he was “blindsided” by the Prime Minister’s pledge of imminent civil service pay rises and a $112m jump in the Government’s wage bill.

Kimsley Ferguson told Tribune Business that he and other union executives were last week informed they would be unable to see the public service salary review, which Prime Minister Philip Davis KC yesterday said justiﬁes between 2 percent to 8 percent salary increases for non-managerial civil servants, before it was approved by Cabinet.

While “excited” about higher incomes for all civil servants, he argued it is “ludicrous” for the union to be denied “a seat at the table” over the salary review

because it will be unable to identify - and advocate for the correction of - any shortcomings that may negatively impact its members as the Government will have already made decisions.

And Mr Ferguson told this newspaper he was unaware that 2025-2026 Budget data is forecasting a 13.9 percent, or more than $112m increase, in the size of the civil service wage bill over the next three ﬁscal cycles.

Total wages and salaries are projected to be $807.459m in

the upcoming 2025-2026 ﬁscal year, which begins on July 1, before further increasing to $881.692m in 2026-2027 and then reaching $919.734m in 20272-2028. The BPSU chief said a key driver behind the projected increases is likely to be “allocations” for salary increases given that a number of public sector union deals expire at end-June 2025.

The data, though, signals that The Bahamas’ size of government is set to further

PM: Rating goal ‘ambitious’, may be longer than 3 years

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Prime Minister yesterday conceded his threeyear timeline for restoring The Bahamas to ‘investment grade’ status is “ambitious” but asserted that achieving this is more important than how long it takes.

Philip Davis KC, leading off the 2025-2026 Budget debate in the House of Assembly, subtly signalled that escaping ‘junk’ status’ may take longer

than the 2028-2029 ﬁscal year target he set last week but pledged that the Government “will not ﬂinch” from the four key indicators it is focusing on to attain it. Responding to suggestions that a “massive debt reduction” will be required for The Bahamas to move upwards through the four ratings separating it from a return to ‘investment grade’ status with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P), he said: “I’ve taken note of commentary suggesting that this objective

PM accused of ‘deﬂection’ over

may not be achievable within the three-year timeframe I proposed, or even at all.

“Yes, the targets are ambitious, but ambition is necessary if great things are to be achieved. Four years ago there were many who scoffed at the idea that we could achieve a balanced Budget. And yet here we are. These are our goals and we have set out our road map as to how we will achieve them.

“Yes, it will require strong, continued ﬁscal discipline and wise stewardship of the

$120m

economy, but we do not ﬂinch from either responsibility. This administration believes in setting high standards and working relentlessly to meet them. Whether we reach investment grade in three years or slightly beyond, the important thing is that we are moving decisively in the right direction, with discipline and with purpose.”

Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune

Grand Lucayan proceeds

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

THE Opposition’s ﬁnance spokesman yesterday accused the Prime Minister of “deﬂection” after he failed to answer how much of the $120m Grand Lucayan sales proceeds have been paid to the Government.

Kwasi Thompson, the east Grand Bahama MP, told Tribune Business that Philip Davis KC “didn’t answer the question” he posed during the 2025-2026 Budget debate over how much of the purchase price for the resort has yet to be received from the Miamiheadquartered purchaser, Concord Wilshire.

The former minister of state intervened on a ‘point of order’ after Mr Davis, in leading off the Budget debate in the House of Assembly, conﬁrmed that legal fees and other transaction closing costs will be

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

“With respect to another amendment to the VAT Act, a taxable person or entity will no longer be permitted to claim ‘input’ tax deductions for goods and services used in major construction projects, or building docks, reclaiming land or undertaking developments valued at over $1m unless they are in the business of supplying real property as part of their regular operations,” he explained.

“In other words, if a real estate developer is building homes or commercial

Budget debate in the House of Assembly, asserted that private companies and homeowners not involved in real estate development or sales have “disproportionately” beneﬁted at the expense of Bahamian taxpayers by being able to recover the 10 percent tax paid on building materials, equipment and other construction supplies.

ADRIAN WHITE

KWASI THOMPSON

PHILIP DAVIS KC

KIMSLEY FERGUSON

In today’s turbocharged digital economy, “always online” has become more than a convenience for it is now an expectation. From instant e-mails to back-to-back Zoom meetings, technology has revolutionised how we do business. But, in The Bahamas, where laid-back island life meets the fast-paced demands of global commerce, a growing number of professionals are feeling the cracks beneath the surface. Yes, business technology has brought undeniable benefits. Small Bahamian firms now compete on the global stage. Remote work has opened doors for Bahamians to earn foreign exchange without ever leaving the country. Digital banking and e-commerce are more accessible than ever. But here is the flip side we do not talk about often enough: Digital addiction and burnout are silently becoming a national concern.

DON’T GET TRAPPED BY LIFE IN FRONT OF A SCREEN ROYE II

“Sometimes I wake up and my hand instinctively grabs the phone before I even open my eyes,” admits Carla, a marketing consultant based in Nassau. “It’s like my brain never logs off.”

Ask any professional in Nassau, Freeport or even the Family Islands, and you will hear the same story: Technology tools meant to simplify life often end up stretching the work day. Whats App messages at 11 pm, Slack pings on Sunday mornings, and an ever-growing pressure to respond now. It is a trap where the line between work and rest becomes blurred, and productivity turns into exhaustion.

She is not alone. A 2023 regional survey found that nearly 60 percent of Caribbean professionals report feeling overwhelmed by digital communication, with many citing poor work/ life boundaries and constant connectivity as stress triggers.

You might think burnout is just a personal issue, but it has serious economic implications. Tired workers are less productive. They are more likely to make mistakes, take sick days or leave their jobs altogether.

For a small, service-driven economy such as The Bahamas, where tourism, ﬁnancial services and small business entrepreneurship reign supreme, this can quickly snowball into lost revenue and declining morale.

Let us not forget the healthcare angle either. Chronic stress is linked to everything from hypertension to depression; conditions that strain our already-overburdened healthcare system and

reduce long-term workforce participation. Fortunately, it is not all doom and gloom. Some Bahamian companies are waking up to the toll of technology overload and making changes. Digital detox policies, ﬂexible work schedules and even “emailfree Fridays” are starting to pop up in forward-thinking workplaces.

The Government and business leaders have a role to play, too. Investment in mental health resources, public awareness campaigns and policies that promote sustainable digital practices should be part of the broader economic strategy. Technology developers can also contribute by designing platforms that respect rather than exploit our attention. Think of smarter notiﬁcations, wellness reminders and tools that encourage unplugging after hours.

At the heart of this issue is a simple truth: While technology should work for us, it often feels like we are working for it. The Bahamian economy thrives on innovation, yes, but also on human connection, community and wellness. As we embrace the digital future, we must also protect the human side of work.

Because no amount of cloud computing or artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) automation can replace the value of a well-rested, mentally healthy citizen. And perhaps, just perhaps, it is time we reminded ourselves that, in The Bahamas, life is not supposed to be lived entirely through a screen.

FERGUSON: WE NEVER SAID WE WOULD BOYCOTT MARCH

BY ANNELIA NIXON

TUC president Obie Ferguson KC yesterday argued he never told the media the Trade Union Congress (TUC) will boycott the Labour Day march and the union’s decision to sit out of the festivities is not rooted in vengeance.

Mr Ferguson denied that the union and its afﬁliates have refused to participate in the March due to the Davis administration politicising the annual Labour Day march. He said the TUC is simply maintaining the “sacred” day which is for the workers. He added: “We were never part of the march.”

“See what happened here, ZNS carried that and said we were boycotting,” Mr Ferguson said. “We’re not boycotting anything. That’s not what we’re doing, you know. What we decided to do, we decided that we were not going to march on Labour Day. We never made an explanation

to anybody, including the press - now, some people came to certain conclusions because of the issues that have not been resolved - but ZNS said we were boycotting. But that never came from my mouth. I said, we have decided that we will not march. They then say we were boycotting the march. We were never part of the march. We were not a part of this March we have now.

“Last year we marched and the Progressive Liberal Party Marched as well, and all the political parties marched, as far as I know. But the point I am making is this, we never said we boycott anything. There’s no press [that] can quote me saying that. What I did say is that we were not going to march, and that was a decision made by all the afﬁliates. That is not Obie Ferguson alone.

“What I’m talking about is the actual march of Labour Day under Sir Randol Fawkes administration. Everybody was dressed in white - white shirt, black pants. The ladies, skirt and blouse,

all black. No interference, because it’s a very sacred day. It’s almost like Sunday to the religious community. Sunday is a day or other denomination, where they may have other days, but that’s a sacred day. How could we violate what was fundamental and what is fundamental to this day? Friday, is a special day. If you work on Friday, you get two days. The whole oligarchy felt as those public holidays was not for the workers. They said public holidays was for the royal family, ﬁt for the royal family. So we don’t want to be the ones to be interfering with Sir Randol. I can’t comment on the Prime Minister’s remark because we were not a part of the planning of anything like that.

“[It’s] a sacred day dedicated to workers. It was recognised by the inventor of Labour Day, Sir Randol Fawkes. So that’s a very sacred day to the working class of The Bahamas. So we want to maintain that. We’re not against anybody doing what they want to do.”

The Tribune attended the press conference at which Mr Ferguson spoke about the Labour Day march, saying that the TUC would celebrate Labour Day: “We can celebrate it right down on Wood Road in that dilapidated building. We can go right there, because that supposed to have been completed by the 50th anniversary.”

Mr Ferguson said a celebration of Labour Day and Sir Randol Fawkes will be held at the House of Labour tomorrow, where the public can learn the history behind the holiday. He said the TUC afﬁliates have been invited.

“We’re going to have a lot of people there who are going to be giving the historical journey of Sir Randol,” Mr Ferguson said. “What we’re ﬁnding out, a lot of people are not familiar with the contribution he made as a single individual. A lot of workers, some of them don’t even know who’s Sir Randol Fawkes.

“We’re going to have things for the kids. So while the parents enjoying it, and while they having eats and

drinks and so on, they will be able to hear and understand the history the labour movement, how the labour movement got started, who played a very important role. Some of the people who played a very important role, dead and gone now, but their work lives on, and if you don’t know your history, you dare to repeat it. We’re not ﬁghting no political body, you know? I mean, that’s what they’re trying to make it out to be... They say that because we are not marching. They interpreted it that way. And all I’m saying [is] that is not the case.

“The unions that are under the TUC, they have been invited to be there. They’re committed to be there. But people do things at different times. They may not come or come because, we still believe in, live in a democratic society. People have a choice whether they’re going to come or they’re not going to come. But that would not alter our commitment to Sir Randol.”

Mr Ferguson also pointed to the MoU that states

PM spars with Opposition over economic recovery

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip Davis defended his description of the economy he inherited from the former Minnis administration as being on a “ﬁscal cliff” after Opposition members challenged him in Parliament yesterday

During his budget contribution, Mr Davis was challenged by Opposition members for downplaying the strength of the economy he inherited.

Deputy Leader of the Free National Movement Shannendon Cartright questioned how he “reconciled” saying the economy was on a ﬁscal cliff when the economy grew by 14 percent under the FNM.

Mr Davis said his administration opened the economy by lifting lockdown restrictions which spurred the ﬁscal recovery.

“Everyone knows that this domestic economy was closed, right? If you look at what the period the Central Bank is talking about, the recovery happened after ﬂights started coming to The Bahamas,” said Mr Davis.

“When was that? When they started? It started after the lockdowns were removed. That’s when the economy started to rebound. Who did that?

The New Day government! We ended the curfews. We ended the lockdown. We gave free testing. We gave free masks. That when it happened.” Opposition ﬁnancial spokesman Kwasi Thompson refuted this claim and noted that the economic recovery began from March 2021, prior to the Davis administration taking ofﬁce.

“The Prime Minister said that the lockdowns, had stopped, and that it was the it was during that period of time that the economy started to grow. That is not true,” said Mr Thompson.

“The revenue had picked up from March of that year. The economy had started to rebound from March of that year, whereas before they came into ofﬁce, the trend had started from March of that year. So the economy started to grow well before they came into ofﬁce”

Mr Davis said the public “knows the conditions” they endured during the pandemic and criticised the Opposition for having an issue with the PLP not “moving fast enough to ﬁx the mess they left”.

“See, unfortunately what is good for the Bahamian people, the success is bad for them. Their cry is primarily that we are not moving fast enough to ﬁx the mess they left. We pulled back the country from the edge

of the ﬁscal cliff they found themselves. We changed the direction and set the course for growth and prosperity. That’s what we did,” said Mr Davis.

“Where there was disquiet and despair, there is now hope of opportunity. Things are by no means perfect, but look how far we have come, and none of it is by accident.”

He said his administration prioritised growing the economy, reducing spending, improving revenue collections and ﬁnding new sources of revenue which

has resulted in the projection of a budget surplus in the next ﬁscal year.

“We publicly stated the four goals we intend to pursue when it comes to our ﬁscal management and in partnership with the Bahamian people, we have achieved them all. One was growing the economy. Did we do that? Yes, we did. We reduce our spending. Did we do that? Yes, we did! Improve revenue collection. Did we do that? Yes, we did. We found new source of revenue, and did we do it? Yes we did!,” said Mr Davis.

that the PLP would restore and maintain the House of Labour Building.

“So the parties agree to designate a House of Labour as a historical landmark, and the PLP government pledges to provide… funding for the restoration and the maintenance of the building.

“That is what the minister is saying. The minister did not negotiate this. This was negotiated between the now Prime Minister, he was the opposition leader, and the spokesperson for labour. So if that is the case, I assume that would have been in this. It says the parties agree to designate - it don’t cause them anything to do that - ‘to designate the House of Labour an historical an historical landmark and the PLP in government pledges to provide funding for the restoration’ as one thing ‘and the maintenance of the building.’ So the minister doesn’t have more powers than the Prime Minister. And they never wrote to us by the time we signed this almost four years now, they never say they’re not going to do it.”

“The strategy has borne fruit in the form of economic recovery, reduced unemployment, improved finances and improved investor confidence. It is manifested in the trading of our financial instruments and stabilised investor ratings, and we are able to service and refinance maturing debt in simple terms, we are getting better deals in the financial markets

“It is this hands on effort that has helped to produce the results so that today, we are able to say that in the coming year, the government of The Bahamas is forecast to have a budget surplus.”

Marine pilot company hails tenth anniversary

A FULLY Bahamianowned and operated marine pilot company recently marked its tenth anniversary with a celebration at the Pelican Bay Hotel to highlight its key maritime industry role.

Independent Maritime Services (IMS), based on Grand Bahama, has since its 2014 founding expanded its services beyond pilotage to include other maritime industry offerings such as logistics, launch and port services, and guiding vessels in Harbour Island, Egg Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Conception Island, Long Island, San Salvador, and Bimini/Ocean Cay.

The company currently employs a dedicated team of 15 personnel, including seven licensed marine pilots, administrative staff and operations teams, in carrying on the tradition of marine pilot services that have been offered in Bahamian ports since the 1900s. Formed by a group of marine pilots determined to

chart their own course, IMS has safely executed more than 6,000 vessel movements in The Bahamas.

“We started IMS with the belief that Bahamians not only could, but should, lead in our own maritime industry,” said Captain Justin Wallace, IMS president and co-founder. “Ten years later, we stand as living proof that vision, unity and persistence can overcome any storm.”

Captain Wallace credited his colleagues, including co-founders Captain Kendall Williamson and the late Captain Philip ‘PJ’ Thomas, for their tenacity, and paid tribute to their families and supporters. He also thanked successive administrations and public servants who played pivotal roles in IMS’ success.

“Minister Hanna-Martin has been with us from the beginning. Her push for fairness and national empowerment made all the difference,” Captain Wallace said. “We are here in

large part because of her unwavering support.”

Mrs Hanna-Martin, minister of education, technical and vocational training, who served as minister of transport when IMS was licensed in 2015, said: “This was a fundamental paradigm shift. These young marine pilots told the nation that this was something Bahamians could do, and they were right. Their courage redeﬁned how we see ourselves and our role in our economy.”

Mrs Hanna-Martin, who was a driving force behind the regulatory reforms that enabled IMS’ licensing, recalled the resistance it faced and the determined advocacy of its founders. “They pushed, they lobbied, they were insistent, and a government had to listen,” she said. “They broke open a door not just for themselves, but for future generations of Bahamian professionals.”

She also remembered Captain Philip ‘PJ’ Thomas,

who perished during Hurricane Dorian. “He was a bright light and part of this historic movement,” she said. “His memory lives on in every safe voyage, in every opportunity created.”

Mrs Hanna-Martin called for a documentary to chronicle the IMS journey, describing it as “one of the great untold stories of Bahamian self-determination”.

Chief Captain Williamson, former IMS president, recalled the company’s challenging formation period, and the legal and regulatory milestones that solidiﬁed its role in the maritime sector.

Chief among these was the establishment of the Grand Bahama Anchorage as a compulsory pilotage area under the Port Authorities Act.

“This is what happens when government works for the people,” Captain Williamson declared. “It took guts, vision and an understanding of our capacity as Bahamians to provide world-class service.” He

PM ACCUSED OF ‘DEFLECTION’ OVER $120M GRAND LUCAYAN PROCEEDS

deducted from the purchase price by Lucayan Renewal Holdings, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that holds the hotel on the Hotel Corporation and the Government’s behalf.

However, the Prime Minister’s remarks provided

little to no additional details on the resort’s sale, and nor did they address Mr Thompson’s questions over whether the Government has received the full $120m purchase price and, if a balance remains outstanding, when this will be paid.

Describing public commentary on the Grand Lucayan’s sale as “very interesting”, the Prime Minister said: “Let me provide some clarity around the issues. The Grand Lucayan is not directly owned by the Government of The Bahamas. They [the Opposition]

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About the Job

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THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS ARE OPEN AND THE APPLICANTS SHOULD HAVE THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGEr

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revealed that IMS’ formation came at great personal cost, with 15 marine pilots resigning from well-paying positions in 2014 to launch the company. “The pay was good, but we had to make a stand for ourselves and the next generation,” Captain Williamson said. He outlined landmark operations that would not have been possible without Grand Bahama’s compulsory pilotage designation, including the Boka Vanguard heavylift operation involving the Carnival Horizon, LNG ship-to-ship transfers, oil rig anchorage and major bunkering operations.

“The creation of this industry has given us the ability to train future mariners, create jobs for our communities, and give back meaningfully,” Captain Wallace said. Despite a decade of progress, both he and Captain Williamson urged a continued effort to ensure access

should know that. They ought to.

“It’s owned by a subsidiary of the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas, Lucayan Renewal Holdings. It was a vehicle created by you, the FNM. This entity was established to oversee operations and the sale of the hotel.

“Once the sale of the hotel is ﬁnalised, initial proceeds will be transferred to Lucayan Renewal Holdings. The initial use of these funds would be to settle expenses such as legal fees and other closing costs, including other pre-sale expenses,” Mr Davis added.

“Once all these costs are settled, the residual amount will be transferred to the Hotel Corporation. I am surprised that members of the Opposition seemed unaware of this, given that they were the ones who bought the hotel in the ﬁrst place and incorporated Lucayan Renewal Holdings.”

Intervening, Mr Thompson asserted: “Let me make it abundantly clear. We are aware. What is more important is has the Government actually received the $120m as was reported? How much of the $120m was received? That’s the ultimate question.

“It makes little sense... The question Grand Bahama is seeking to answer is, if you made a deal for $120m, how much of the $120m was received

and when are you going to receive the balance? That’s the ultimate question.” Mr Davis then seemed to refer to a letter sent to him by Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, on the Grand Lucayan but which he had personally not received.

The exchange ended without answers to Mr Thompson’s questions. But well-placed Tribune Business sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Heads of Agreement signed between Concord Wilshire and the Government have yet to be released because numerous underlying agreements involving the developer’s Grand Lucayan partners are still being ﬁnalised.

Disclosure now, this newspaper was told, could impact sensitive negotiations with the likes of timeshare, gaming, and golfing partners, but “a public announcement will come in short order. They are all going to be released soon enough”.

It is understood that some, but not all, of the $120m purchase price has been paid to-date, with the Heads of Agreement involving a number of stages where both Concord Wilshire and the Government both have to fulﬁll their commitments and obligations before it progresses to the next phase.

The Government is thought to have been subsidising the Grand Lucayan’s operations by between $1.2m to $1.5m per month

and opportunity for young Bahamians in the maritime industry.

“There is a national push for enrollment in maritime academies,” Captain Wallace added. “But we also need a push to open doors. Laws must be enforced, and opportunities made available.”

“Challenges create champions,” Captain Williamson added. “And we must complete what we started. The Government has supported the blueprint; now we must see it through.” As IMS enters its second decade, its leaders remain focused on legacy, empowerment and advancing Bahamian identity within the global maritime sector.

“We’re proud of our past,” Captain Wallace said, “but even more excited about the future. The tide is turning, and it’s Bahamian hands on the helm.”

ever since it acquired the resort from CK Property Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa’s real estate arm, six-and-a-half years ago. Some $17.882m was used for this purpose during the 2022-2023 Budget year and, during the first nine months of the following fiscal period, $16.632m out of the $17m allocated was spent on subsidising the Grand Lucayan. A further $17m was estimated for the current 2024-2025 fiscal year, meaning that the $120m purchase price is unlikely to fully recoup the Government’s holding costs pegged at $63m.

The Grand Lucayan sale includes the 56-acre beachfront resort along with the adjacent 160-acre Reef Golf Course.

The developers say the revived property will feature seven major resort components, including three new hotel buildings and branded timeshare units. Other features include a 35-acre cruise destination open to all cruise lines and guests, a 25,000 square foot indoor/ outdoor casino, the conversion of the Reef Golf course to a 160-acre Greg Norman signature golf course, and a 16-slip mega-yacht marina. Construction is expected to begin within 90 days of obtaining the necessary permits and approvals. The project will be rolled out in phases, creating 1,320 construction jobs and 1,750 permanent positions once the resort is fully operational.

THOMPSON HITS OUT AT ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’ BILL

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter

THE Business Development Initiatives Programme Bill has been branded as “corporate welfare” by Opposition spokesman Kwasi Thompson. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mr Thompson said the Davis administration providing tax incentives for companies with an annual turnover of $50m or more was “unforgivable” as it excludes 99 percent of local businesses from critical tax incentives.

“At a time when small and medium-sized Bahamian businesses are fighting to stay afloat through rising costs, delayed government payments, and limited access to credit, the Davis Administration has chosen to reward multimilliondollar corporation with tax breaks and even cash payments, all funded by you the public,” said Mr Thompson. “The Business Development Incentives Programme Bill 2025 offers financial incentives such as tax credits and direct payouts to companies that invest. Sounds promising, right? But there’s a big catch: only businesses with

more than $50m in annual turnover can apply.

“That’s not a development strategy it’s corporate welfare for the few, deliberately excluding 99 percent of Bahamian businesses from any beneﬁt. Taking good care of large local and foreign businesses while shutting out small and medium sized Bahamian ﬁrms from critical tax incentives. This is unforgiveable.”

Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said Bahamian business can access funding through a “myriad” of funding programmes and noted that the bill corresponds with the 15 percent

Domestic Minimum Top Up tax for large companies. He accused Mr Thompson of being against attracting new investments to the country and described the level of investment under the former Minnis administration as “poor”.

“This member was the minister responsible for finance. I find it stunning that he has forgotten the Industries Encouragement Act. I find it stunning that he has forgotten the Hotel’s Encouragement Act and all of the myriad of incentive programmes available to Bahamians of any size, of businesses of any size, and

then he has conveniently forgotten that we have implemented the domestic minimum top up tax, which is projected to bring in at least $100m that’s provided for in this budget,” said Mr Cooper. “So he frowns on the concept of encouraging new investments. He frowns on the idea of encouraging new business in the Bahamas. No wonder the level of foreign direct investments you brought in was so poor. We have brought $12bn of foreign direct investments, and we are delighted to encourage more because it’s for the beneﬁt of the Bahamian it creates jobs. It creates

BUSINESS LICENCE REVOKING REFORMS SET TO BE REVERSED

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter

THE Deputy Prime Minister yesterday pledged that Business Licence Act reforms will be amended to give companies a chance to object before their licence is revoked or cancelled.

Speaking to concerns raised by Opposition ﬁnance spokesman, Kwasi Thompson, in Parliament, Chester Cooper, who is also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, said the Business Licence (Amendment) Bill 2025 will be changed as the matter has been “litigated internally extensively” within the Government.

“This matter has been litigated internally extensively, and I want to advise the member that that provision is going to be amended so that there is the requirement to show cause,” said Mr Cooper.

Mr Thompson called the present Bill, which removes the ability for businesses to be heard before their licence is revoked or cancelled, and instead only allowe them to mount a challenge after this has occurred, an “assault on Bahamian business owners”.

“This is not just a technical amendment; it is a devastating blow to the rule of law and a direct assault on Bahamian business owners. By quietly deleting

Section 25(2) of the Business Licence Act 2023, the Government has stripped away one of the most fundamental protections in any democratic society: The right to be heard before you are penalised,” said Mr Thompson.

Mr Thompson also challenged Prime Minister Philip Davis KC to acknowledge there was a surplus in recurrent revenue for the ﬁscal years 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.

“I wonder if the Prime Minister would acknowledge that during the years of 1999-2000, and also during the years of 20002001, under the recurrent expenditure, under recurrent revenues, that there was a surplus under the

recurrent accounts for 19992000 and also there was a surplus under the recurrent accounts for the years 20002001,” said Mr Thompson. “And I believe that this was not just projected, but this was actually achieved... that during those years, under the recurrent accounts, there was actually a surplus for two years; that was it was actually achieved, and not just projected. I wonder if the Prime Minister would ignore…would acknowledge that during those years that had happened.”

Minister of National Security, Wayne Munroe, said the Prime Minister was speaking to the “entire budget” and not just the recurrent side but also the capital budget. He pointed out that in those two ﬁscal years the Government also

tabled borrowing resolutions and acknowledged in its Budget presentations that it expected spending to exceed revenue collections.

During his contribution, Mr Thompson raised the issue again, but Mr Cooper ﬁred back. “The member for East Grand Bahama is doing it again. This morning, he stood on his feet and he acknowledged. He begged the member for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador to acknowledge that there was a recurrent surplus. The Prime Minister wasn’t talking about a recurrent surplus. He was talking about a balanced budget,” said Mr Cooper.

“And the member knows full well that the recurrent surplus is the top line, and then you add the capital expenditures, etc, and then the bottom line speaks to

the economy, a concept he doesn’t understand.”

Mr Thompson said Bahamian ﬁrms should be given the same opportunity to receive tax incentives and reiterated the bills implementation is “unforgiveable”.

“Give Bahamians the same implementation. Give the Bahamians the same deal. Excluding 99 percent of Bahamian businesses from any beneﬁt, taking good care of large, local and foreign businesses, while shutting out small and medium-sized business ﬁrms from the critical tax incentives is unforgiveable,” said Mr Thompson.

the overall Budget that the Prime Minister is talking about.

“The way he begged Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador to concede a point this morning tells me that he fully understands the point, but yet he goes again talking about a balanced Budget having been projected in the past, when he himself conceded that was only the recurrent surplus. I only ask that the member not try to fudge the facts and simply put it as it is, as he knows it is otherwise he is being misleading to this Parliament.”

UNION CHIEF ‘BLINDSIDED’ BY CIVIL SERVICE WAGE INCREASE

expand, rather than shrink or remain the same, thus placing an ever-increasing burden on Bahamian businesses, citizens and residents to ﬁnance it via tax increases.

And it seemingly puts a dent in hopes voiced by Robert Myers, former Chamber of Commerce chairman, that “burners will become earners” - meaning that civil servants, and other public sector workers, whose salaries are funded by taxpayers will instead become tax generators or “earners” through switching to the private sector as a result of recent economic growth.

The Prime Minister, unveiling details of the Government’s spending plans as he led-off debate on the 2025-2026 Budget in the House of Assembly, disclosed that the public service’s middle manager ranks will experience an increase in their take-home pay with this month’s end-June pay cheque. And non-managerial staff will enjoy their own income rises as early as September 2025.

“We are moving forward with the second phase of our comprehensive Public Service Salary Review,” Mr Davis said. “The ﬁrst phase, now complete, focused on middle management and above. Public servants will see increases in their salaries at the end of this month.

“This second phase will bring salary adjustments of 2 to 8 percent for the remainder of the public service, a vital step to help restore purchasing power lost to inﬂation while also promoting fairness, retention, and morale across the

public sector. The second phase will be implemented in September 2025.” The Prime Minister said the Government is “also expanding the health insurance coverage for all government employees”, adding that this will “provide broader protection for our public ofﬁcers; reduce out-of-pocket medical costs; and improve overall access to healthcare for those who serve our nation”.

No details on the health insurance expansion were provided, even though successive administrations have struggled with the build-up of arrears on medical coverage premiums for Royal Bahamas Police Force ofﬁcers and other public sector employees. Several observers yesterday suggested that the civil service pay rises, and their timing, are being made with one eye on the upcoming general election.

“You know an election’s coming. That’s the easiest group to grab. That doesn’t surprise me at all,” one private sector professional said. Another added, referring to the projected surge in the total civil service wage bill over the next three Budget cycles: “At least they’re budgeting for it. That’s the political payoff for the public service.

“But they continue to prime up the spending side, and there is no discussion with regard to restraint. It’s the sustainability of that.”

Mr Ferguson, meanwhile, signalled that himself and other BPSU executives were caught unawares by the Prime Minister’s statement on imminent salary increases.

“I appreciate any form of engagement that the Government will convey

to public servants,” he told Tribune Business. “However, the statement the Prime Minister has made, the union is extremely blind in that regard.

“The ﬁnancial secretary, we met with him some time last week. We had been hearing about the salary review and, being the sole bargaining agent for public servants, we wanted to go in while the salary review was in draft form so that the union could have sight of it, and we could make suggestions and recommendations on how certain things should be handled.

“Today, the union knows nothing about the salary review,” he added. “Simon Wilson indicated to the union, along with its attorney, Khalil Parker KC, that once approved by Cabinet we will be able to see it. How ludicrous is it to tell intelligent people, who represent the sole bargaining agent for public sector employees, that?

“If any one of our people is adversely affected there is no means by which it can be remedied because it because it has already been approved.”

Noting that the BPSU was directed by Pia GloverRolle, minister of labour and the public service, to speak with the Ministry of Finance on the salary review, Mr Ferguson added: “Someone should have had the fortitude in that meeting with the ministry to ensure the union had a seat at the table. The repeated claim that labour in this country is stable, I don’t support that statement. It is far from the truth.

“There are so many outstanding claims and, if the Government has such a

COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS 2023 IN THE SUPREME COURT CLE/qui/01168

Common Law & Equity Division

IN THE MATTER of the Quieting of Titles Act, 1959 AND

IN THE MATTER OF THE Petition of SHELDON LOVELL BASTIAN AND

ALL THAT piece parcel or lot of land containing Seventeen Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty-Three (17,583) Square Feet bounded on the North partially by the property of Wilfred Thompson and running thereon One Hundred and Twenty-Seven and Forty-Six Hundredths (127.46) feet and M. Ash bounded on the Northwest side by property now or formerly owned by N. Johnson and running thereon Ninety-Seven and Ninety-Three Hundredths (97.93) feet and WESTWARDLY by property now or formerly owned by Sheila Harris and running thereon Fifty-Two and Thirteen Hundredths (52.13) feet and to the South by an existing road and running thereon Seventy and Fifty Hundredths (70.50) feet and to the East by property now or formerly owned by Byron Smith and running thereon One Hundred and Seventy and Sixty-Three Hundredths (170.63) feet located in Smith’s Hill, South Andros one of the islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

NOTICE

THE QUIETING TITLES ACT 1959 Chapter 393

The Petition of Sheldon Lovell Bastian of the settlement of Smith’s Hill, South Andros one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in respect of:

ALL THAT piece parcel or lot of land containing Seventeen Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty-Three (17,583) Square Feet bounded on the North partially by the property of Wilfred Thompson and running thereon One Hundred and Twenty-Seven and Forty-Six Hundredths (127.46) feet and bounded on the Northwest side by property now or formerly owned by N. Johnson and running thereon Ninety-Seven and Ninety-Three Hundredths (97.93) feet and WESTWARDLY by property now or formerly owned by Sheila Harris and running thereon Fifty-Two and Thirteen Hundredths (52.13) feet and to the South by an existing road and running thereon Seventy and Fifty Hundredths (70.50) feet and to the East by property now or formerly owned by Byron Smith and running thereon One Hundred and Seventy and Sixty-Three Hundredths (170.63) feet located in Smith’s Hill, South Andros one of the islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

The Petitioner, Sheldon Lovell Bastian claims to be the owner in possession of the free simple estate of the said land and has made application to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas under Section 3 of the Quieting Titles Act, 1959 to have his title to the said land investigated and the nature and the extent thereof determined and declared in a Certificate of Title to be granted by the Court in accordance with the provisions of the said Act. The Petition and filed plan of the said land may be inspected during normal office at:

1. The Registry of the Supreme Court, Bank Lane & East Street, Nassau, Bahamas.

2. The Administrator’s Office, the Bluff Smith’s Andros.

3. The Chambers of Monique V. A. Gomez & Co., The Oschloe Building, #73 East Street & Cordeaux Avenue, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that any person having Dower or right to Dower or any Adverse Claim or claim not recognized in the Petition shall within Thirty (30) days after the appearance of the Notice herein filed in the Registry of the Supreme Court and serve on the Petitioner on the undersigned or Statement of such Claim in the prescribed form verifying by an Affidavit to be filed therewith. Failure of any such person to file and serve his/her Statement on or before the said Thirty (30) days herein will operate as a bar to such claim

Monique V A. Gomez & Co.

Chambers #73 The Oschloe Building East Street & Cordeaux Avenue

Nassau, The Bahamas

Attorneys for the Petitioner

surplus [the forecast $75m Budget surplus for the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year] why can’t the senior doctors be paid, why can’t Customs and Immigration promotions be executed, why can’t all the outstanding classifications and reclassifications be completed if they have such a surplus.”

Reiterating that he was “excited” about civil servants earning increased salaries, the BPSU chief joined his union colleagues in calling for The Bahamas to implement a livable wage rather than focus on the minimum wage. And he also queried why middle management civil servants, rather than those they supervise, are receiving their rise ﬁrst.

“Don’t get me wrong; I’m very excited, but we need to see this become a reality,” he added. “And we are starting off in the wrong direction. We should be looking at the marginalised

ﬁrst before we deal with the upper class. We should be addressing people who are below the poverty line, having to make a decision between paying rent and putting food on the table.

“The Consumer Price Index is no longer a measuring stick to determine what the minimum wage should be. At the BPSU, we’re of the view that we need to pursue a living wage versus the minimum wage because the cost of living will always outpace the minimum wage.”

As for the projected surge in the Government’ wage and salary bill over the next three Budget cycles through 2027-2028, Mr Ferguson told this newspaper: “Again, blindsided. However, the Government has pending a number of industrial agreements that are expiring on June 30. From where I sit, that is probably allocations for negotiations for salary increases.”

The $807.458m wage bill projected for 2025-2026 is the ‘block’ that consumes the greatest share of the Government’s recurrent Budget at 23.4 percent, meaning that more than 20 cents out of every $1 paid by Bahamian taxpayers will go towards covering civil service pay. Of the $767.95m allocated to the public service wage bill in the present 2024-2025 period, some $555.744m was spent at end-March. And, based on the $735.96m wage bill for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the Government’s payroll will have increased by almost $184m in just five fiscal years if the projections for 2027-2028 come true.

Mr Ferguson, meanwhile, said the salary review and increase announced by the Prime Minister is not something agreed to by the BPSU. He added that the union had agreed to a salary review as far back as 2016, but he argued that it had never taken place, and this present exercise is the Government’s.

OPPOSITION MP HITS ‘DESPERATION’ OVER $100M VAT EVASION

amnesty and modernising the system to collect VAT on real estate. The results have still been disappointing,” the Prime Minister asserted.

“From the public utterances of the real estate professionals, the Ministry of Finance has estimated that the Government is being deprived of about $100m a year in annual revenue with most, if not all, related to foreign purchases of Bahamian real estate. In this Budget, we are proposing a comprehensive set of measures to address this leakage.

“The most obvious form of leakage is under-reporting the transaction value. In the past we did not have the tools to identify under-reporting. However, with improvements in our processes we can identify under-reporting pretty accurately. The proposed amendment to the VAT Act provide penalties for underreporting including, in the most extreme cases, an application to the Supreme Court for forfeiture to the Treasury.”

Detailing other measures contained in the legislative package tabled in the House of Assembly alongside the 2025-2026 Budget, Mr Davis said the 30-day

PM: Rating

FROM PAGE B1

deadline to report all newly-constructed sales to the Department of Inland Revenue, together with the associated penalty for noncompliance, will now be extended to all real estate deals through changes to the existing Bill.

“Another loophole is structuring the transaction to disguise the transfer of ownership,” the Prime Minister added. “For example, putting the property into a Bahamian company, which is owned by a company in another country and then transferring shares of the parent company.

“The reality is that these transactions would not be possible without the involvement of real estate professionals. Hence the amendment to the VAT Act requires professionals to report on all transactions. While the current amendment speaks to new construction, prior to passage this would be adjusted to speak to reporting on all transactions.

“Finally, there are still too many transactions which are not recorded. We are proposing an amendment to make recording land transactions in the Registry of Records mandatory. This aligns with the work we are doing with Land Reform.” Tribune Business has reported on

all these reforms, and their implications, over the past week.

Mr White, though, argued that the wide-ranging measures signalled the Government’s “desperation” for increased tax revenues while disclosing that he is unaware of anyone - buyer, seller, realtor or attorney - who has actually been caught and/or prosecuted for deliberately falsifying, or under-reporting, the value of real estate transactions to avoid a portion of the due VAT.

He added that complications are frequently caused by Department of Inland Revenue challenges, and queries, over transaction values and the amount of VAT - which is often split 50/50 between buyer and seller - that is due. The St Anne’s MP said the tax authority frequently compares sales prices to the ones it has from real property tax assessments, the latter of which are often over-valued, leading to disputes.

“It’s desperation because they are in desperate need of money,” Mr White told Tribune Business of the real estate-related VAT reforms, “and the day will come when real estate transactions may slow down or market values slow down. Then they’ll have to

cut back on their spending, because one day the well may be too dry for the PLP administration to survive.

“It can’t depend on this source to constantly fund them. If the money is not coming in, it’s not because the people are not there; they want to come in.” Mr White added that, in his experience, most real estate sales take place at “market value”, and there is no under-reporting, but issues arise when the Department of Inland Revenue holds to its real property tax assessment ﬁgures that are often higher.

“The issue with all the VAT, and looking at ways to squeeze more from an industry that has been providing for them, if they keep doing it the well may run dry,” Mr White reiterated. “They have a thirst that is out-pacing supply.

“They seem desperate, and are making insinuations against realtors and attorneys as though they are not putting all the true details in their contracts and instruments. I’ve not heard of anybody who’s been prosecuted for such a claim [under-reporting], or identiﬁed in the House of Assembly or elsewhere, and evidence brought to show it’s worth more. That’s not fair, that’s not right, and it’s not good for business.”

goal ‘ambitious’, may be longer than 3 years

Business earlier this week that the Davis administration’s strategy and road map for achieving its ambition to cut the Government’s debt servicing costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) by 50 percent come 2028-2029 has yet to be fully laid out or “articulated”.

Reducing interest expense from 20 percent of GDP in 2023-2024 to 10 percent in three years time is one of the goals for The Bahamas to achieve if it is to escape rid itself of ‘junk’ status, but Mr Bowe warned that a cut of such magnitude will not be easy to achieve and requires a “contraction” in the $11.7bn national debt.

The 2025-2026 Budget’s breakdown shows the Government’s interest, or debt servicing costs, are projected at $689.546m for the upcoming ﬁscal year that ends on June 30, 2026, representing a more than $13m year-over-year jump.

This remains a greater expense than any of the spending allocations granted to the Government’s ministries, departments and agencies for the upcoming ﬁscal year. As a comparison, it exceeds the combined $477.5m allocated to the Ministry

of Health and Wellness, Department of Public Health and Department of Environmental Health Services by more than $200m. And it is also far greater than the total $353.4m allocation to the Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training, and Department of Public Education, standing at some $336m greater or almost double. The $198m allocated to the two main law enforcement agencies, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and Royal Bahamas Police Force, almost pales in comparison.

The Government, though, is forecasting a near-$103m reduction in its debt servicing (interest) bill over the next two years through to 2027-2028 in line with the Prime Minister’s pledge to slash these expenses to just 10 percent of economic output and thus free-up spending resources to boost critical public services such as health, education, social services and the security services.

Interest payments on The Bahamas’ national debt are forecast to fall to $624.175m in 2026-2027, before falling further to $586.552m in the 2027-2028 ﬁscal year - the latter representing a 15 percent decline compared to this year. However, besides

reﬁnancing existing debt at cheaper rates, the Government has yet to set out how it will achieve such a major reduction.

Mr Davis last week set out several economic indicators that the Government is targeting to achieve its ambition of returning The Bahamas to ‘investment grade’ status by the 20282029 ﬁscal year. These include a 13.1 percent, or $5,100, increase in Bahamian per capita gross domestic product (GDP) to $44,000 by 2029, plus a more than 50 percent reductionin percentage terms - in the Government’s debt interest expense as a percentage of GDP within the same timeframe.

Mr Davis, adding that the Government also expects to be “near” its 50 percent debt-to-GDP target by the 2028-2029 ﬁscal year, some two years ahead of its 2030-2031 goal, said: “This administration remains resolute in its commitment to securing an investment grade credit rating within the next three years, starting in the upcoming ﬁscal year, 2025-2026.

“Achieving this milestone by ﬁscal year 2028-2029 is not merely symbolic; it is a strategic imperative that will unlock greater economic opportunity,

Realtors yesterday questioned again why the Government is placing the compliance burden on them, rather than attorneys, given that the latter handle the purchase price payment and all paperwork relating to the closing including the conveyance’s signing, execution and recording in the Registry of Records along with the appropriate VAT payment.

David Morley, Morley Realty’s broker/owner, told Tribune Business that the Government appeared “to be overreaching by squeezing the real estate agents to try be involved with two aspects of a sale that they have no inﬂuence or involvement in” - the closing and the deed recording. Emphasising that he was not trying to pin blame on attorneys, Mr Morley explained: “Once the business terms of a sale are agreed, the real estate agent moves to the sideline, handing off the transaction to the lawyers to complete and, once completed under law, then the real estate agent gets compensated for their services.

“So is it equitable in law to hold the real estate agent and attorney jointly and severally liable if the attorney does not pay over, or the buyer instructs its attorney not to pay over, the

planned, we had set a target of 22.1 percent.

reduce borrowing costs and enhance investor conﬁdence in our nation’s future....

“With our GDP projections expected to fully capture economic activity within the next three years, we have conﬁdently set the following targets to reach ‘investment grade’ status. GDP per capita has risen by 27.7 percent, increasing from $30,400 in 2021 to $38,900 in 2024. On a yearover-year basis, it grew by 2.7 percent, up from $37,900 in 2023,” he added.

“Based on regional benchmarks, long-term growth prospects and the current economic environment, we are targeting an annual GDP per capita of approximately $44,000 by 2029.” The Bahamas is presently some four notches below ‘investment grade’ status with the rating agencies, having been marooned in ‘junk’ status for some years.

Mr Davis, identifying the Government’s revenue-to-GDP ratio, or its percentage of economic output, as another targeted indicator, said: “Revenueto-GDP has also improved significantly, rising from 17 percent in fiscal year 20202021 to 19.7 percent in fiscal year 2023-2024. For the current fiscal year, as previously

VAT transfer tax. It appears to be another opportunity for government to be overreaching by squeezing the real estate agents to try be involved with two aspects of a sale that they have no inﬂuence or involvement in.

“Furthermore, once a sale is completed then the real estate agent’s contract with the seller is completed.” Mr Morley said he had “no issue” with other elements of the VAT Act reforms that will effectively make taxes on real estate sales the ‘priority payment’, or preferred creditor’, ahead of the attorney’s fees - usually 2.5 percent of the purchase priceand the 6 percent realtor’s commission.

“What appears to be unfair and unreasonable is being held liable after the attorney pays us a commission. Are we now required to hold the attorney accountable and ask for evidence of payment?” the Morley Realty chief added. Mike Lightbourn, Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty’s president, told this newspaper of the Government’s moves: “All I have to say is it just sounds utterly ridiculous.... It’s just more work and is unbelievable. I’m not trying to give the attorneys more work to do, but they handle the funds; we don’t. They’re going after the wrong people. I’m not trying to go after the lawyers, but they handle the money.”

“Based on internal estimates and expected policy changes, we expect to be near this target by ﬁscal year 2028-2029. In addition to reducing the size of our debt, we are also focusing on reducing the cost of carrying it.

“In fiscal year 2020-2021, interest expense accounted for approximately 22.1 percent of total government revenue, decreasing to 20 percent in fiscal year 20232024. Our objective is to further reduce this ratio to 10 percent by fiscal year 2028-2029.”

“To meet the requirements of an investment grade rating we must continue to enhance our revenue mobilisation efforts. Accordingly, we project that total revenue will reach 23.5 percent of GDP in ﬁscal year 2025-2026 and increase to 25 percent thereafter.” The Prime Minister added that “international best practices” showed a country’s debt should not exceed half its economic output or GDP. The Bahamas’ debtto-GDP ratio stood at 72.4 percent at end-June 2024, and Mr Davis added: “The Fiscal Strategy Report 2025 outlines our commitment to reducing the central government debt-to-GDP ratio to 50 percent by ﬁscal year 2030-2031.

PM: $1m VAT crackdown to stop Treasury losing out

spaces for sale, and the costs are directly tied to those taxable sales, they will still be able to claim VAT credits. However, for private developments not intended for resale, this beneﬁt will no longer apply.

“This is to ensure that VAT refunds are used appropriately, and not in ways that disproportionately beneﬁt large private interests at the expense of the public purse.”

The VAT (Amendment) (No.2) Bill seeks to insert several new sub-sections in the existing Act that “restrict VAT input deductions for major construction unless involved in taxable property supply”, meaning developers of subdivisions and other real estate that will be re-sold to new buyers are exempt. Major construction is deﬁned as projects worth $1m or more.

It clearly states that tax deductions on VAT inputs “shall not be allowed in respect of any goods or services acquired for use in, or connection with” property

construction, reconstruction or renovations deemed to be a “major” project unless this is allowed by the VAT comptroller. This concentrates signiﬁcant power in the comptroller’s hands, and no exemption qualifying criteria was released. Apart from the $1m threshold, the Bill lists “major construction” criteria as involving dredging or land reclamation activities; the construction of docks, marinas and other waterfront structures; the building, paving and improvement of roads, driveways “or other access infrastructure”, and “any other construction activity as may be prescribed” by rules and regulations that have yet to be published. As a result, Bahamian businesses undertaking physical expansion of their premises are likely to fear they will face a 10 percent hike in construction costs as a result of not being able to reclaim the VAT on their input costs. Apart from being contrary to how VAT, a tax on the end-user, operates, the move is being viewed as a disincentive to

job-creating growth, investment and construction activity.

Mr Davis, meanwhile, yesterday tabled two new Bills that will be included in the Budget legislative reform package, one of which is to formally create the Maritime Revenue Unit and give it legal status. The other amends the Central Bank Act to allow the Government to “request a withdrawal of interest income” on the $128m in dormant accounts that the regulator holds to fund small home and hurricane repairs.

Turning to new measures to boost maritime safety, and enhance revenues from the sector, the Prime Minister added: “Amendments to the Water Skiing and Motorboat Control Act will establish enforceable safety protocols for jet ski operators, including the mandatory wearing of approved ﬂotation devices and restrictions on operating during hours of darkness.

“Jet skis will also be prohibited from carrying passengers unless both

US AND EUROPE TRADE NEGOTIATORS SAY PROGRESS BUT NO BREAKTHROUGHS ON TARIFF TALKS IN PARIS

By CATHERINE GASCHKA, SAM McNEIL and PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press

EUROPE and the United States say progress has been made but there were no breakthroughs during a meeting in Paris to negotiate a settlement of a tense tariff spat with worldwide economic ramiﬁcations between two global economic powerhouses.

"I am pleased that negotiations are advancing quickly," said Greer. He said the EU negotiators showed a "willingness by the EU to work with us to ﬁnd a concrete way forward to achieve reciprocal trade. I look forward to continued constructive engagement in the coming days and weeks."

"We're advancing in the right direction at pace," Šef ovi said at a news conference. He said ongoing technical meetings between EU and U.S. negotiators

in Washington would be followed by a video conference between himself and Greer to "assess the progress and charter the way forward."

Brussels and Washington are unlikely to reach a substantive trade agreement in Paris. The issues dividing them are too difﬁcult to resolve quickly.

President Donald Trump regularly fumes about America's persistent trade deﬁcit with the European Union, which was a record $161 billion last year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

Trump blames the gap between what the U.S. sells and what it buys from Europe on unfair trade practices and often criticizes the EU's 10% tax on imported cars. America's tax on imported cars was 2.5% until Trump raised it to 25% in April. The EU has argued its purchases of U.S. services, especially in the technology sector, all but overcome the deﬁcit.

After the Trump administration's surprise tariffs on steel last week rattled global markets and complicated the ongoing, wider tariff negotiations between Brussels and Washington, the EU on Monday said it is preparing

"countermeasures" against the U.S.

The EU has offered the U.S. a "zero for zero" deal which would see both sides end tariffs on industrial goods, including autos. Trump has rejected that idea, but EU ofﬁcials say it's still on the table.

The EU could buy more liqueﬁed natural gas and defense items from the U.S., and reduce duties on cars, but it is not likely to budge on calls to scrap the value added tax, which is akin to a sales tax, or open up the EU to American beef.

"We still have a few weeks to have this discussion and negotiation," French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said in Paris on Wednesday ahead of the OECD meeting. "If the discussion and negotiation do not succeed, Europe is capable of having countermeasures on American products and services as well."

Greta Peisch, who was general counsel for the U.S. trade representative in the Biden administration, said the zero-for-zero proposal could provide a way to make progress if the Trump administration "is looking for a reason not to impose tariffs on the EU.''

parties meet the safety requirements. All motorboats will be required to display a visible registration number. These changes are designed to ensure the safe and responsible use of our waters.

“In addition, in the Port Authorities Amendment Bill, there is a requirement that all foreign vessels would now be required to keep on automatic identiﬁcation systems while they are in Bahamian waters. This assists with search and rescue, but also aids in identifying vessels which are not complying with the terms of their entry permit.”

Staying on the water, the Prime Minister continued: “We are strengthening the enforcement of seabed leases. Under the Port Authorities Amendment Bill, any unauthorised use of the seabed will attract penalties. This protects our marine resources and ensures proper regulation of underwater space.

“We have also put in place a mechanism to collect environmental levies on seabed leases. This

is important as we have established that the seabed has substantial monetary value. We are amending the Customs Management Regulations to have three categories for cruising permits, with a fee increase.

“With the amendments to the Fisheries Resources Regulations, we are also tightening the permit process and delinking the ﬁshing permit and anchorage approval from the cruising permit. There will be separate charges for a ﬁshing permit, and any vessel not with a marina or yacht booking would need to pay for an anchorage permit.

“Under the amended Port Authorities Act, the minister would have the ability to designate anchorage zones throughout the archipelago. This will only be for places where anchoring by a foreign vessel is allowed.”

Seeking to boost Bahamian participation in the maritime sector, Mr Davis said: “It is well known that non-Bahamians have a substantial presence in the yacht charter sector. This has occurred because we have been slow to update regulations that allow

limited foreign participa-

tion in the sector.

“These regulations allowed high-end charters to be booked outside of the country. But the market for yacht charter is now predominantly a high-end market, so Bahamian yacht brokers could not participate in the growth of this industry. This will change with the passage of the compendium of legislation on the marine sector.

“Non-Bahamian charter operators using sea vessels within Bahamian waters will now face well-deﬁned enforcement measures for licensing, inspection, insurance and registration requirements. Failure to comply may result in the imposition of ﬁnes, and the impoundment of vessels. Fixed penalties will be introduced....”

The Prime Minister also conﬁrmed that changes to the Business Licence Act are designed to “address the proliferation of liquor stores by allowing the community to have a say in whether the licence is granted or not”, noting that the issue has been a particular problem in many inner city and Over-the-Hill communities.

But Peisch, now a partner at the Wiley Rein law ﬁrm, wondered: "How motivated is the U.S. to come to a deal with the EU?'' Trump, after all, has longstanding grievances and complaints about EU trade practices.

One target of his ire is the value-added tax, similar to U.S. state sales taxes.

Trump and his advisers consider VATs unfair protectionism because they are levied on U.S. products. But VATs are set at a national level, not by the EU, and apply to domestic and imported products alike, so they have not traditionally been considered a trade barrier. There is little chance governments

will overhaul their tax systems to appease Trump. Likewise, the Europeans are likely to balk at U.S. demands to scrap food and safety regulations that Washington views as trade barriers. These include bans on hormone-raised beef, chlorinated chicken and genetically modiﬁed foods.

"When you start talking about chickens or GMOs or automobile safety standards, you're talking about the ways countries choose to regulate their economies," said William Reinsch, a former U.S. trade ofﬁcial now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We think that's protectionist. They think it's keeping their citizens healthy ... It's been a sore point for 60 years.''

THE “Cosco Shipping France” container ship is moored at the Long Beach Container Terminal, LBCT, at Middle Harbor in the Port of Long Beach, Calif., , April 15, 2025.

Photo:Damian Dovarganes/AP

Spike in steel tariffs could imperil Trump promise of lower grocery prices

By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer

PRESIDENT Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum could hit Americans in an unexpected place: grocery aisles.

The staggering 50% levies on those imports took effect Wednesday, stoking fear that big-ticket purchases from cars to washing machines to houses could see major price increases. But those metals are so ubiquitous in packaging, they're likely to pack a punch across consumer products from soup to nuts.

"Rising grocery prices would be part of the ripple effects," says Usha Haley, an expert on trade and professor at Wichita State University, who added that the tariffs could raise costs across industries and further strain ties with allies "without aiding a long-term U.S. manufacturing revival."

Trump's return to the White House has come with an unrivaled barrage of tariffs, with levies threatened, added and often taken away,

in such a whiplash-inducing frenzy it's hard to keep up.

He insisted the latest tariff hike was necessary to "even further secure the steel industry in the U.S."

That promise, though, could be at odds with his pledge to reduce food costs.

Rising grocery prices, Trump has said, were among the biggest reasons voters swung his way. A look around a supermarket makes clear how many products could be impacted by new taxes on steel and aluminum, from beer and soda to dog food to can after can of beans, fruit, tomato paste and more.

"It plays into the hands of China and other foreign canned food producers, which are more than happy to undercut American farmers and food producers," insists Can Manufacturers Institute president Robert Budway. "Doubling the steel tariff will further increase the cost of canned goods at the grocery store."

Budway says production by domestic tin mill steel producers, whose products are used in cans, have

dramatically decreased in recent years, making manufacturers reliant on imported materials. When those prices go up, he says, "the cost is levied upon millions of American families."

Food companies were already warily assessing the administration's tariffs before the latest hike. The Campbell Co., whose soup cans are a staple for millions of Americans, has said

it was working to mitigate the impact of tariffs but may be forced to raise prices.

ConAgra Brands, which puts everything from cans of Reddi-Whip to cooking sprays like Pam on supermarket shelves, likewise has pointed to the impact steel and aluminum tariffs have. "We can't get all of our materials from the US because there's no supply," ConAgra CFO David Marberger said at a recent

Goldman Sachs conference on global staples.

Beyond the obvious products — canned foods like tuna, chicken broth and cranberry sauce — economists warn of a spillover effect that tariffs can have on a gamut of items. If the cost to build a store or buy a truck to haul food rise, the prices of products may follow.

Most Americans will never buy a tractor, but Babak Hafezi, who runs a global consulting ﬁrm and teaches international business at American University, says a price spike in such a big-ticket item vital to food production will spill down to all sorts of other items.

"If a John Deere tractor costs 25% more, consumers pay the price for that," Hafezi says. "This trickles down the economy and impacts every aspect of the economy. Some of the trickling is immediate and others are slower to manifest themselves. But yes, prices will increase and choices will decrease."

Trump appeared before a crowd of cheering steelworkers to unveil the new tariffs at a rally outside Pittsburgh on Friday. In a statement, David McCall, president of the United Steelworkers International union, called tariffs "a valuable tool in balancing the scales" but "wider reforms of our global trading system" are needed. It may be harder to gauge the weight of tariffs on, say, a can of chickpeas versus that of a new car, but consumers are likely to see myriad indirect costs from the levies, says Andreas Waldkirch, an economics professor at Colby College who teaches a class on international trade.

"Anybody who's directly connected to the steel industry, they're going to beneﬁt. It's just coming at a very high cost," Waldkirch says. "You may get a few more steel jobs. But all these indirect costs mean you then destroy jobs elsewhere. If you were to add that all in, you come up with a pretty large negative loss."

A TARIFF Free sign to attract vehicle shoppers is at an automobile dealership in Totowa, N.J., on April 30, 2025. Photo:Ted Shaffrey/AP

Part toy, part fashion, the arrival of the viral Labubu was

a long time in the

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN

AP Business Writer

LABUBU, the plush toy from China's Pop Mart is a social media darling, but the toothy little monsters are far from an overnight success. Having appeared a decade ago, Labubus may have ﬁnally cemented their place in the collectible toy market for years to come.

The Labubu, by artist and illustrator Kasing Lung, ﬁrst appeared with pointed ears and pointy teeth, in three picture books inspired by Nordic mythology in 2015.

In 2019 Lung struck a deal with Pop Mart, a company that caters to toy connoisseurs and inﬂuencers, to sell Labubu ﬁgurines. But it wasn't until Pop Mart started selling Labubu plush toys on key rings in 2023 that the toothy monsters suddenly seemed to be everywhere, including in the hands of Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and NBA star Dillon Brooks. K-pop singer Lisa of Blackpink began posting images of hers for her more than 100 million followers on Instagram and on TikTok, where Labubu pandemonium has broken out.

There are 1.4 million #Labubu TikTok posts and counting, videos of fans unboxing them, showing styles inspired by them, and of course, Labubu cosplay.

Fans have latched on to Labubu's mashup of play and fashion, making them accessories on handbags, backpacks and belts, or hanging them from car mirrors.

making

Labubu has been a bonanza for Pop Mart. Its revenue more than doubled in 2024 to 13.04 billion yuan ($1.81 billion), thanks in part to its elvish monster. Revenue from Pop Mart's plush toys soared more than 1,200% in 2024, nearly 22% of its overall revenue, according to the company's annual report.

Aside from their ability to pique the interest of toy aﬁcionados and fashionistas, Labubu latched on to the blind box phenomenon, where the purchaser doesn't know exactly which version of the plush toy they'll get.

And Pop Mart made sure there is a Labubu for everyone, regardless of income. Most are priced in a wide rage between $20 and $300, with certain collaborations or limited editions priced higher, according to Brough.

Unlike many toys, Labubu devotees include a large number of adults. Buyers ages 18 and over drove a year-over-year increase of more than $800 million in the U.S. toy market in 2024, according to market research ﬁrm Circana. Adult shoppers, mostly female, bought the toys for themselves. In 2025's ﬁrst quarter, toy sales for those ages 18 and over rose 12% from the prioryear period. At $1.8 billion, adults also accounted for the highest spending among all age groups in the quarter.

"The character has evolved into a collectible and style symbol, resonating with fans who connect with its quirky aesthetic and unique backstory," Emily Brough, Popmart's head of IP licensing in the Americas, said.

Like many retailers, Pop Mart is actively monitoring negotiations between the U.S. and just about every one of its trading partners as prices may be impacted. The situation with China is at the forefront, with President Donald Trump saying on Friday that the country "violated" an agreement with the United States on trade talks.

Right now Pop Mart, whose products are manufactured across Asia, says that it is continuously scaling production and expanding distribution across its online shop, retail stores and blind box vending machines to meet increasing demand.

Short supply has led to long lines at stores and at least one physical ﬁght at a shopping center in the United Kingdom. Pop Mart said in an Instagram post late last month that it was temporarily suspending all in-store and blind box machine sales in the U.K. Peter Shipman, head of Europe, said in a Facebook post that the company is currently working on a new method to distribute toys to stores.

Resellers have become problematic and many Labubu fans are still willing to pay exorbitant price markups.

Kena Flynn was at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles recently when she stumbled upon some Labubus being sold at a kiosk. Flynn said in a TikTok on Sunday that the prices were "really bad," but her boyfriend bought two anyway.

"At a certain point, you can't buy them," Flynn said

in her video. "I just want a Labubu and I cannot buy one from Pop Mart, so here we are."

Looking to keep up with the overwhelming demand, Pop Mart says it's on track for 50 more retail locations in the U.S. by the end of

the year. That'll give shoppers more chances to hunt for Labubus, as Pop Mart says it's planning multiple new Labubu releases tied to seasonal moments and holidays throughout the rest of the year.

AMAZON PLANNING $10B INVESTMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA FOR DATA CENTER AND AI CAMPUS

HAMLET, N.C.

Associated Press

AMAZON plans to invest $10 billion toward building a campus in North Carolina to expand its cloud computing and artiﬁcial intelligence infrastructure, bringing a massive shot in the arm to a region where many textile and apparel jobs dried up a generation ago.

Amazon said Wednesday that its investment in rural Richmond County should create at least 500 jobs and support thousands more through construction and data center supply chain providers, according to statements from the company and Gov. Josh Stein's ofﬁce. Stein called the investment one of the largest in state history.

Data centers are already familiar to North Carolina's landscape, including those operated by Apple. This project could transform Richmond County, which is on the South Carolina border and has a population of about 42,000.

The Richmond County site is expected to employ engineers, network and security specialists and other technical roles, the company said. Amazon said it would provide support for universities, community colleges and other workforce training programs to help people enter

data center and broadband expansion ﬁelds.

"This investment will position North Carolina as a hub for cutting-edge technology, create hundreds of high-skilled jobs, and drive signiﬁcant economic growth," Amazon chief global affairs and legal ofﬁcer David Zapolsky said. "We look forward to partnering with state and local leaders, local suppliers, and educational institutions to nurture the next generation of talent."

Richmond County commissioners approved an incentives package for Amazon on Tuesday. The company could receive annual cash grants for 20 years equal to portions of the real estate property tax and the property tax for vehicles and equipment at each data center contingent

on job creation and monetary investment thresholds, The Richmond Observer reported.

"This project will truly transform our community in ways that we cannot imagine," Richmond County Manager Bryan Land said at Tuesday's commissioners meeting. "With the announcement comes large-scale upgrades to our water system, Rockingham's wastewater system and our ﬁber optic infrastructure throughout our county — all of which will come at a cost to our Richmond County taxpayers of zero."

Stein's ofﬁce, which called the project an "innovation campus," said the data centers will contain servers, storage drives, networking equipment and other technology.

Halsbury Chambers is seeking to employ a Legal Secretary with the following experience:

Three (3) - Five (5) years litigation/commercial/probate experience. Applicant must be able to work on their own initiative. Please send resumes to carolyn.adderley@halsburylawchambers.com

THIS image provided by Pop Mart, shows Labubu, the plush toy from China’s Pop Mart.

Photo:Pop Mart/AP

THE AMAZON logo is displayed, Sept. 6, 2012, in Santa Monica, Calif. Photo:Reed Saxon/AP

Trump promised to welcome

more foreign students.

Now, they feel targeted on all fronts

By JOCELYN GECKER AP Education Writer

TO attract the brightest minds to America, President Donald Trump proposed a novel idea while campaigning: If elected, he would grant green cards to all foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges.

"It's so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools," Trump said during a podcast interview last June. "That is going to end on Day One."

That promise never came to pass. Trump's stance on welcoming foreign students has shifted dramatically. International students have found themselves at the center of an escalating campaign to kick them out or keep them from coming as his administration merges a crackdown on immigration with an effort to reshape higher education.

An avalanche of policies from the Trump administration — such as terminating students' ability to study in the U.S., halting all new student visa interviews, moving to block foreign enrollment at Harvard — have triggered lawsuits, countersuits and confusion for international students who say they feel targeted on multiple fronts.

In interviews, students from around the world described how it feels to be an international student today in America. Their accounts highlight pervasive feelings of fear, anxiety and insecurity that have made them more cautious in their daily lives, distracted them from schoolwork and prompted many to cancel trips home because they fear not being allowed to return.

For many, the last few months have forced them to rethink their dreams of building a life in America.

A standout student from Latvia feels 'expendable'

Markuss Saule, a freshman at Brigham Young University-Idaho, took a recent trip home to Latvia and spent the entire ﬂight back to the U.S. in a state of panic.

For hours, he scrubbed his phone, uninstalling all social media, deleting anything that touched on politics or could be construed as anti-Trump.

"That whole 10-hour ﬂight, where I was debating, 'Will they let me in?' — it deﬁnitely killed me a little bit," said Saule, a business analytics major. "It was terrifying."

Saule is the type of international student the U.S. has coveted. As a high schooler in Latvia, he qualiﬁed for a competitive, merit-based exchange program funded by the U.S. State Department. He

spent a year of high school in Minnesota, falling in love with America and a classmate who is now his ﬁancee. He just ended his freshman year in college with a 4.0 GPA. But the alarm he felt on that ﬂight crushed what was left of his American dream.

"If you had asked me at the end of 2024 what my plans were, it was to get married, ﬁnd a great job here in the U.S. and start a family," said Saule, who hopes to work as a business data analyst. "Those plans are not applicable anymore. Ask me now, and the plan to leave this place as soon as possible."

Saule and his ﬁancee plan to marry this summer, graduate a year early and move to Europe.

This spring the Trump administration abruptly revoked permission to study in the U.S. for thousands of international students before reversing itself. A federal judge has blocked further status terminations, but for many, the damage is done. Saule has a constant fear he could be next. As a student in Minnesota just three years ago, he felt like a proud ambassador for his country.

"Now I feel a sense of inferiority. I feel that I am expendable, that I am purely an appendage that is maybe getting cut off soon," he said. Trump's policies carry a clear subtext. "The policies, what they tell me is simple. It is one word: Leave."

From dreaming of working at NASA to 'doomscrolling' job listings in India

A concern for attracting the world's top students was raised in the interview Trump gave last June on the podcast "All-In." Can you promise, Trump was asked, to give companies more ability "to import the best and brightest" students?

"I do promise," Trump answered. Green cards, he said, would be handed out with diplomas to any foreign student who gets a college or graduate degree.

Trump said he knew stories of "brilliant" graduates who wanted to stay in the U.S. to work but couldn't. "They go back to India, they go back to China" and become multi-billionaires, employing thousands of people. "That is going to end on Day One."

Had Trump followed through with that pledge, a 24-year-old Indian physics major named Avi would not be afraid of losing everything he has worked toward.

After six years in Arizona, where Avi attended college and is now working as an engineer, the U.S. feels like a second home. He dreams of working at NASA or in a national lab and staying in America where he has several relatives.

But now he is too afraid to ﬂy to Chicago to see them, rattled by news of foreigners being harassed at immigration centers and airports.

"Do I risk seeing my family or risk deportation?" said Avi, who asked to be identified by his first name, fearing retribution. Avi is one of about 240,000 people on student visas in the U.S. on Optional Practical Training — a postgraduation period where students are authorized to work in fields related to their degrees for up to three years. A key Trump nominee has said he would like to see an end to postgraduate work authorization for international students.

Avi's visa is valid until next year but he feels "a massive amount of uncertainty."

He wonders if he can sign a lease on a new apartment. Even his daily commute feels different.

"I drive to work every morning, 10 miles an hour under speed limit to avoid getting pulled over," said Avi, who hopes to stay in the U.S. but is casting a wider net. "I spend a lot of time doomscrolling job listings in India and other places."

A Ukrainian chose college in America over joining the ﬁght at home — for now Vladyslav Plyaka came to the U.S. from Ukraine as an exchange student in high school. As war broke out at home, he stayed to attend the University of Wisconsin.

He was planning to visit Poland to see his mother but if he leaves the U.S., he would need to reapply for a visa. He doesn't know when that will be possible now that visa appointments are suspended, and he doesn't feel safe leaving the country anyway.

He feels grateful for the education, but without renewing his visa, he'll be stuck in the U.S. at least two more years while he ﬁnishes his degree. He sometimes wonders if he would be willing to risk leaving his education in the United States — something he worked for years to achieve — if something happened to his family.

"It's hard because every day I have to think about my family, if everything is going to be all right," he said. It took him three tries to win a scholarship to study in the U.S. Having that cut short because of visa problems would undermine the sacriﬁce he made to be here. He sometimes feels guilty that he isn't at home ﬁghting for his country, but he knows there's value in gaining an education in America.

"I decided to stay here just because of how good the college education is," he said. "If it was not good, I probably would be on the front lines."

22 CREW MEMBERS SAFE AFTER FIRE ABOARD CARGO SHIP CARRYING VEHICLES OFF ALASKA

By MARK THIESSEN and LISA BAUMANN Associated Press

THE crew of a cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles to Mexico, including 800 electric vehicles, abandoned ship after they could not control a ﬁre aboard the vessel in waters off Alaska's Aleutian island chain.

A large plume of smoke was initially seen at the ship's stern coming from the deck loaded with electric vehicles Tuesday, according to U.S. Coast Guard photos and a Wednesday statement from the ship's management company, London-based Zodiac Maritime.

There were no reported injuries among the 22 crew members of the Morning Midas.

Crew members abandoned ship, were evacuated onto a lifeboat and rescued by the crew of a nearby merchant vessel called the Cosco Hellas in the North Paciﬁc, roughly 300 miles (490 kilometers) southwest of Adak Island.

Adak is about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) west of Anchorage, the state's largest city.

The crew initiated emergency firefighting procedures with the ship's onboard fire suppression system. But they were unable bring the flames under control.

"The relevant authorities have been notified, and we are working closely with emergency responders with a tug being deployed to support salvage and firefighting operations," Zodiac Maritime said in a statement.

"Our priorities are to ensure the continued safety of the crew and protect the marine environment."

The U.S. Coast Guard said it sent aircrews to Adak and a ship to the area. The status of the ﬁre onboard the ship was unknown as of Wednesday afternoon, but smoke was still emanating from it, according to the Coast Guard.

Rear Admiral Megan Dean, commander of the Coast Guard's Seventeenth District, said in a statement Wednesday that as the search and rescue part of the response concludes, the Coast Guard is working with Zodiac Maritime to determine how to recover the ship and what will be done with it.

"We are grateful for the selﬂess actions of the three nearby vessels who assisted in the response and the crew of motor vessel Cosco Hellas, who helped save 22 lives," Dean said.

The 600-foot (183-meter) Morning Midas, a car and truck carrier, was built in 2006 and sails under a Liberian ﬂag.

The cars left Yantai, China, on May 26, according to the industry site marinetrafﬁc.com. They were being shipped to Lazaro Cardenas, a major Paciﬁc port in Mexico.

Earlier this month, a Dutch safety board called for improving emergency response on North Sea shipping routes after a deadly ﬁre in 2023 on a freighter that was carrying 3,000 automobiles, including nearly 500 electric vehicles, from Germany to Singapore.

The Petition of Denise Lightbourne in respect of ALL THAT piece, parcel or lot of land owned by the Petitioner and situate on the Eastern side of Collection Street and approximately 400 feet Southwards of Robinson Road in the Southern District of the island of New Providence which said piece parcel or lot of land is bounded on the North by a public road (Collection Street) and running thereon Sixty (60) feet East by the said Lot 82 and running thereon Seventy (70) feet on the South by the said Lot No. 76 and running thereon Sixty (60) feet and on the West by Lot No. 84 and running thereon Seventy (70) feet which said piece parcel or lot of land is more particularly described on or by the plan or diagram fled in this action.

Denise Lightbourne claims to be the legal owner in possession of the land and has made application to the Supreme Court of the Bahamas under the Quieting Titles Act to have his title to the land investigated.

The fled plan may be inspected during normal working hours at:a) The Registry of the Supreme Court, George Streets, Nassau, N. P., Bahamas; or b) Themis Law Chambers, 79 Farrington Road, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that any person having any adverse claim or claim not recognized in the Petition shall on or before the 30th day of June, A. D. 2025, fle in the Registry of the Supreme Court and serve on the Petitioner or the undersigned a statement of such claim in the prescribed form and verifed by an affdavit to be fled therewith. Failure of any such person to fle and serve a statement of such claim on or before the 30th day of June, A. D. 2025, will operate as a bar to such claim. NOTICE Re: Supreme Court Equity Action

VLADYSLAV Plyaka poses for a photo at Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, Monday, June 2, 2025.

Photo:Jose Luis Magana/AP

NAPA VALLEY TOWN THAT ONCE RODE OUT EMERGENCIES WITH DIESEL GETS A CLEAN-POWER BACKUP

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press

FOR residents of this quaint tourist town on the northern edge of Napa Valley, the threat of wildfire is seldom out of mind. The hillside bears burn scars from a 2020 fire that forced all of Calistoga to evacuate, and the 2017 Tubbs fire that killed 22 people in wine country started just a few miles from downtown.

When ﬁre danger required shutting off transmission lines that might spark a blaze, the town relied on a bank of generators in a popular recreation area that belched choking diesel exhaust and rumbled so loudly it drove people away.

But now Calistoga is shifting to a ﬁrst-of-its-kind system that combines two clean-energy technologies — hydrogen fuel cells and batteries — for enough juice to power the city for about two days. Experts say the technology has potential beyond simply delivering clean backup

power in emergencies; they say it's a steppingstone to supporting the electric grid any day of the year.

As the system was undergoing its final tests in late May in an area that includes a dog park, ball fields, community garden and bike trail, residents said they were grateful to be guaranteed clean energy year-round. Lisa Gift, a resident who also serves on the city council, noted Calistoga is already grappling with climate change that is fueling more intense and frequent wildfires.

"Continuing to depend on fossil fuels was simply not sustainable," Gift said.

"That's what excited me about this. It's a clean and reliable energy solution that ensures the safety and resilience of our community."

Energy Vault, an energy storage company based in California, built the new facility that was to come online in early June. Next year, it could be exporting power to the electric grid whenever needed once its application to fully connect is approved.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that GUILENE CHARLES of Soldier Road, Nassau, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 5th day of June 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

The installation sits next to where Paciﬁc Gas & Electric used to set up nine mobile generators every year from late spring through fall. Behind a chain-link fence stand six hydrogen fuel cells standing two stories tall made by Plug Power in New York. Water vapor wafted from one of the fuel cells being tested as The Associated Press got an exclusive tour of the site as it was in ﬁnal testing.

Shipping containers hold two pairs of Energy Vault's lithium-ion batteries. Nearby, a cinder block wall surrounds a massive, double-walled steel tank that holds 80,000 gallons (302,833 liters) of extremely cold liquid hydrogen that gets converted to gas to run the fuel cells.

Utility was searching for a cleaner solution

California utilities, especially PG&E, have had to pay large settlements over igniting wildﬁres. PG&E began cutting power at times to reduce ﬁre risk in 2018, one of California's

deadliest and most destructive wildﬁre years. It ships diesel generators to about a dozen towns to provide backup power during those periods.

Calistoga, the largest with about 5,000 people, has had its power shut off 10 times. When generators ran, they spewed exhaust with harmful nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and soot. PG&E considered replacing Calistoga's diesel generators with a natural gas version that would pollute less, but opted instead for Energy Vault's fully clean solution, said Dave Canny, the utility's vice president for the North Coast Region.

Energy Vault CEO Robert Piconi said other communities, military bases and data centers could all

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that RONALD PIERRE of All Saints Way, New Providence, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 5th day of June 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

use something similar, but potential customers wanted to see it function ﬁrst.

"There's a massive proof point with this project," he said. "I think it'll have a lot of implications for how people think about alternative, sustainable solutions."

The fuel cell maker, Plug Power, is planning for these types of products to be its main business in a decade. Energy Vault said it's buying clean hydrogen, produced with low or no greenhouse gas emissions, to run the fuel cells in Calistoga.

"This solution is just beautiful," said Janice Lin, founder and president of the Green Hydrogen Coalition, a nonproﬁt that advocates for green hydrogen projects to combat climate change. "No noise, no emissions. And it's renewable. It's dumping diesel."

A year-round clean system brings comfort Calistoga caters to tourists with a main thoroughfare that emphasizes local shops, restaurants, tasting rooms and art galleries over franchise stories. Residents pride themselves on a smalltown vibe, and say Calistoga isn't posh like much of the rest of Napa Valley. Some of those residents were concerned at ﬁrst about the hydrogen, which is ﬂammable and can be explosive. Fire Chief Jed Matcham said the "very, very large tank" got his attention, too.

He collaborated with Energy Vault on emergency

planning and training, and said he's comfortable with the safety measures in place. Energy Vault's batteries also come with alarms, detectors and piping to extinguish a ﬁre.

The next time PG&E turns off the power to the area to prevent wildﬁres, it will tell Energy Vault when it's safe to electrify Calistoga. The batteries will get things back up and running, discharging the energy stored inside them to the local microgrid.

Then the hydrogen fuel cells will take over to generate a steady level of power for a longer period. By working in tandem — the company likened it to the way a hybrid vehicle works — the batteries and fuel cells are expected to keep the lights on for about 48 hours or longer.

Clive Richardson, who owns downtown's Calistoga Roastery and can typically be found behind the counter, drinking coffee and chatting with customers, said people in Calistoga get on edge when the winds kick up. And he knows what it's like to have to empty out his store when power goes out — a big hit for a small-business owner.

A year-round clean solution for emergency power gives him a measure of comfort.

"This will give us far more security than we had before," he said. "It's fantastic that it's come. Here we are, little ol' Calistoga, and we've got the ﬁrst-of-akind system that hopefully will be endorsed and go all over the world."

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that TITO WILLIAMS of Major Road, Yellow Elder, Nassau, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of May 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

of P.O. Box N356 Malcolm Road,Nassau, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of May 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

A SIGN for a hot spring is displayed on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Calistoga, Calif. Photo:Annika Hammerschlag/AP

REDDIT SUES AI COMPANY ANTHROPIC FOR ALLEGEDLY ‘SCRAPING’ USER COMMENTS TO TRAIN CHATBOT CLAUDE

By MATT O'BRIEN

AP Technology Writer

SOCIAL media platform

Reddit sued the artiﬁcial intelligence company

Anthropic on Wednesday, alleging that it is illegally "scraping" the comments of millions of Reddit users to train its chatbot Claude.

Reddit claims that Anthropic has used automated bots to access Reddit's content despite being asked not to do so, and "intentionally trained on the personal data of Reddit users without ever requesting their consent."

Anthropic said in a statement that it disagreed with Reddit's claims "and will defend ourselves vigorously."

Reddit ﬁled the lawsuit Wednesday in California Superior Court in San Francisco, where both companies are based.

"AI companies should not be allowed to scrape information and content from people without clear limitations on how they can use that data," said Ben Lee, Reddit's chief legal ofﬁcer, in a statement Wednesday.

Reddit has previously entered licensing agreements with Google, OpenAI and other

companies that are paying to be able to train their AI systems on the public commentary of Reddit's more than 100 million daily users.

Those agreements "enable us to enforce meaningful protections for our users, including the right to delete your content, user privacy protections, and preventing users from being spammed using this content," Lee said.

The licensing deals also helped the 20-yearold online platform raise money ahead of its Wall Street debut as a publicly traded company last year

Among those who stood to beneﬁt was OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who accumulated a stake as an early Reddit investor that made him one of the company's biggest shareholders.

Anthropic was formed by former OpenAI executives in 2021 and its ﬂagship Claude chatbot remains a key competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT. While OpenAI has close ties to Microsoft, Anthropic's primary commercial partner is Amazon, which is using Claude to improve its widely used Alexa voice assistant.

Much like other AI companies, Anthropic has relied heavily on websites

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such as Wikipedia and Reddit that are deep troves of written materials that can help teach an AI assistant the patterns of human language.

In a 2021 paper coauthored by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei — cited in the lawsuit — researchers at the company identiﬁed the subreddits, or subject-matter forums, that contained the highest

quality AI training data, such as those focused on gardening, history, relationship advice or thoughts people have in the shower.

Anthropic in 2023 argued in a letter to the

U.S. Copyright Ofﬁce that the "way Claude was trained qualiﬁes as a quintessentially lawful use of materials," by making copies of information to perform a statistical

analysis of a large body of data. It is already battling a lawsuit from major music publishers alleging that Claude regurgitates the lyrics of copyrighted songs.

Photo:Yuki Iwamura

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

SIGNALS IT WILL SLASH FUNDS FOR LONG-DELAYED CALIFORNIA

HIGH-SPEED RAIL PROJECT

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press

THE Trump administration signaled Wednesday that it intends to cut off federal funding for a long-delayed California high-speed rail project plagued by multibillion-dollar cost overruns, following the release of a scathing federal report that concluded there is "no viable path" to complete even a partial section of the line.

Voters ﬁrst authorized $10 billion in borrowed funds in 2008 to cover about a third of the estimated cost, with a promise the train would be up and running by 2020. Five years beyond that deadline, no tracks have been laid and its estimated price tag has ballooned to over $100 billion.

In a letter to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which oversees

the project, Federal Railroad Administration acting Administrator Drew Feeley wrote that what was envisioned as an 800mile system connecting the state's major cities has been reduced to a blueprint for "a 119-mile track to nowhere."

After a $4 billion federal investment, the California agency "has conned the taxpayer ... with no viable plan to deliver even that partial segment on time," Feeley wrote.

State ofﬁcials defended what's known as the nation's largest infrastructure project and said they remain committed to construction, though it's not clear what funding would replace the federal support if it's withdrawn. Feeley noted the FRA could seek repayment of the federal funds but is not proposing

to claw back those dollars at this time.

Carol Dahmen, the state authority's chief of strategic communications, said in a statement that the federal conclusions are misguided and "do not reﬂect the substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California."

Dahmen noted that the majority of the funding for the line has been provided by the state and that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal would extend at least $1 billion a year for 20 years to complete an initial segment of the line.

State ofﬁcials are focused on a stretch connecting the Central Valley cities of Bakersﬁeld and Merced, which is set to be operating by 2033.

The state agency has about a month to formally respond to the FRA, after

which the grants could be terminated.

State Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican from Huntington Beach who is vice chair of the Transportation Committee, said that "commonsense has prevailed" and urged the Legislature's dominant Democrats to redirect the funds from the rail line to lowering gas prices or investing in viable construction projects.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

"Let's stop wasting California's hard-earned taxpayer dollars," Strickland said. There is no known source for the billions of dollars that would be needed to complete the line.

California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri suggested in April that private investors could step in and ﬁll the funding gap for the project that promised nonstop rail service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours. At the time, he acknowledged that even if funding is secured, it might take nearly two more decades to complete most of that segment.

President Donald Trump — who canceled nearly $1 billion in federal dollars for the project in his ﬁrst term — said in May that his

administration will not continue to fund the line. "That train is the worst cost overrun I've ever seen," Trump told reporters at the time, calling it "totally out of control."

California Democratic

U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff called the administration's announcement a "devastating" blow for 21st century transportation and an effort to punish a heavily Democratic state that didn't support the Republican president in the election.

"High-speed rail is the future of transportation with the potential to bring customers to new businesses, businesses to new employees and to connect communities hundreds of miles away with affordable and faster transit," they said in a joint statement.

Board of Directors has declared a dividend of 1 cent per share to shareholders of record 20th June 2025. The dividend payment of 1 cent per share is represented by the regularly declared annual dividend of 1 cent per share.

GARTH FERNANDEZ, Central Valley regional director for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, talks about the Cedar Viaduct in Fresno, Calif., April 15, 2025. Photo:Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP

Wall Street’s big rally stalls following some discouraging economic data

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

WALL Street's big recent rally lost some momentum on Wednesday following a pair of potentially discouraging reports on the economy.

The S&P 500 ﬁnished the day virtually unchanged and remained 2.8% below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3%.

The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields tumbled following the weaker-thanexpected economic updates.

One said that activity contracted for U.S. retailers, ﬁnance companies and other businesses in the services industries last month, when economists were expecting to see growth. Businesses told the Institute for Supply Management in its survey that all the uncertainty created by tariffs is making it difﬁcult for them to forecast and plan.

A second report from ADP suggested U.S. employers outside of the

government hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected. That could bode ill for Friday's more comprehensive jobs report coming from the U.S. Labor Department, which is one of Wall Street's most anticipated data releases each month.

So far, the U.S. job market has remained remarkably resilient despite years of high inﬂation and now the threat of President Donald Trump's high tariffs. But weakness there could undermine the rest of the economy.

To be sure, ADP's report historically has not been a perfect predictor of what the U.S. Labor Department's report will say.

"Whether this report is accurate or not, traders and investors will read today's number as a dark result for trading today," according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. "This may be the tip of an iceberg, but it also could be a false start."

Following the reports, traders built up bets that the Federal Reserve will need to cut interest rates later

this year in order to prop up the economy, which in turn caused the fall for Treasury yields. The weaker-thanexpected ADP report also pushed Trump to call on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver cuts to rates more quickly.

"'Too Late' Powell must now LOWER THE RATE," Trump said on his Truth Social platform. "He is unbelievable!!!"

The Fed has yet to cut interest rates this year after slashing them through the end of 2024. Part of the reason for the pause is that the Fed wants to see how much Trump's tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inﬂation. While lower interest rates could boost the economy, they could also give inﬂation more fuel.

Longer-term Treasury yields have also been rising in recent weeks because of reasons outside the Fed's control. Investors have been demanding the U.S. government pay more in interest to borrow because of worries about whether it's set to add trillions of dollars to its debt through

Inﬂation data threatened by government hiring freeze as tariffs loom

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

THE Labor Department has cut back on the inflation data it collects because of the Trump administration's government hiring freeze, raising concerns among economists about the quality of the inflation figures just as they are being closely watched for the impact of tariffs.

The department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the monthly consumer price index, the most closely watched inﬂation measure, said Wednesday that it is "reducing sample in areas across the country" and added that it stopped collecting price data entirely in April in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Provo, Utah. It also said it has stopped collecting data this month in Buffalo, New York.

In an email that the BLS sent to economists, viewed by The Associated Press, the agency said that it "temporarily reduced the number of outlets and quotes it attempted to collect due to a staffing shortage" in April. The reduced data collection "will be kept in place until the hiring freeze is lifted."

The cutbacks have intensiﬁed worries among economists

that government spending cuts could degrade the federal government's ability to compile key economic data on employment, prices, and the broader economy. The BLS also said last month that it will no longer collect wholesale prices in about 350 categories for its Producer Price Index, a measure of price changes before they reach the consumer.

The inflation data plays a huge role in the U.S. economy. It is used to calculate the annual cost of living adjustments for tens of millions of Social Security recipients and it helps determine the interest rate paid in about $2 trillion of inflation-adjusted Treasury bonds. Many private-sector wages are also influenced by the CPI. The reduced data collection is also occurring at a time of heightened uncertainty about the economy and the impact of Trump's sweeping tariffs on hiring, growth and inflation.

Ofﬁcials at the Federal Reserve, for example, have repeatedly cited the cloudy outlook as a key reason they are no longer cutting their short-term interest rate, after reducing it three times late last year.

"The PPI is cutting hundreds of indexes from production, and the CPI

tax cuts under discussion on Capitol Hill. On Wall Street, some companies that beneﬁt from lower interest rates rallied after Treasury yields fell. Homebuilders D.R. Horton, PulteGroup and Lennar all rose more than 3%. Lower 10-year Treasury yields typically mean lower interest rates for mortgages, which can juice the homebuilding business.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise rose 0.8% after delivering a stronger proﬁt for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company that Delta Air Lines has sued for a technology outage last summer, fell 5.8% despite reporting a stronger proﬁt for the latest quarter than

analysts expected. Its revenue fell just short of Wall Street's target, as did its forecast for revenue in the current quarter. All told, the S&P 500 added 0.44 to 5,970.81 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.90 to 42,427.74, and the Nasdaq composite added 61.53 to 19,460.49.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia as the wait continued for more updates on trade talks that could convince Trump to lower his tariffs. Hopes for such deals have been a big reason U.S. stocks have roared back after falling roughly 20% below their record two months ago.

But nothing is assured, and Trump early Wednesday said of China's leader

Xi Jinping, "I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!"

The European Union's top trade negotiator, Maroš Šef ovi , met Wednesday with his American counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.35% from 4.46% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks traders' expectations for what the Fed will do with overnight interest rates, eased to 3.86% from 3.96%.

is now being constructed with less data," Omair Sharif, chief economist at the consulting ﬁrm Inﬂation Insights, said in an email. "That alone is worrying given that we're heading into the teeth of the tariff impact on prices."

The BLS said that the cutbacks "have minimal impact" on the overall inﬂation data, but "they may increase the volatility" of the reported prices of speciﬁc items.

President Donald Trump froze federal hiring on his first day in office and extended the freeze in April until late July, suggesting future inflation reports will also involve

less data collection. The White House could continue to extend the freeze indeﬁnitely.

Sharif and other economists said the BLS hasn't released enough information to judge how big an impact the cutbacks are having on the inﬂation ﬁgures. But it could make them less slighly less accurate.

"When you have a reduced sample size, it introduces more error into the estimate," Sharif said. "It creates the potential for the indexes to be more volatile and potentially less accurate."

Earlier this year, the Trump administration disbanded several advisory committees that worked with BLS and other statistical agencies on finetuning their data-gathering. Alan Detmeister, an economist at UBS, an investment bank, said the cutbacks likely had little impact on April's inflation figures. But "if these types of cuts continue, they will degrade the reliability and efficacy of these statistical agencies," he said.

TRADER Leon Montana works on the ﬂoor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, June 3, 2025.

Photo:Richard Drew/AP

THE ENTRANCE to the Labor Department is seen near the Capitol in Washington, May 7, 2020.

Photo:J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Trump tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to the deﬁcit and leave 10.9 million more uninsured, CBO says

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent

PRESIDENT Donald Trump's big bill in Congress would unleash trillions in tax cuts and slash spending, but also spike deﬁcits by $2.4 trillion over the decade and leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance, raising the political stakes for the GOP's signature domestic priority.

Republican leaders in Congress, determined to muscle the sweeping package forward, had little to say after the analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Ofﬁce. GOP senators were heading for an afternoon meeting with Trump at the White House.

But Democrats laboring to halt the march of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act piled on with relentless opposition.

"In the words of Elon Musk, this bill is a 'disgusting abomination,'" said Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, reviving the billionaire former Trump aide's criticism of the package.

The analysis comes at a crucial moment as Trump is pushing Congress, where Republicans have majority control, to send the ﬁnal product to his desk to become law by the Fourth of July. The House passed the bill last month by a single vote, but it's now slogging through the Senate, where Republicans want a number of signiﬁcant changes. And the politics are only intensifying.

After Musk blindsided Congress with his all-out assault against the bill this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson rushed to do damage control.

The GOP speaker said he called Musk to discuss the criticism leveled late

Tuesday, but had not heard back. Musk has threatened to use his political apparatus to go after Republicans in the midterm elections.

"I hope he comes around," Johnson, R-La., told reporters.

Hours later, Musk, whose business interests could be impacted by green energy rollbacks in the bill, implored voters to call their representatives and senators: "Bankrupting America is NOT ok!" he wrote on social media, "KILL the BILL"

Tax breaks, but also cuts to health care

The work of the CBO, which for decades has served as the ofﬁcial scorekeeper of legislation in Congress, is closely watched by lawmakers and others seeking to understand the budgetary impacts of the sprawling 1,000-page-plus package.

Along with $3.75 trillion to extend the 2017 tax breaks and add the new ones Trump campaigned on, including no taxes on tips, it found that the package would reduce federal spending outlays by nearly $1.3 trillion, largely through proposed reductions to Medicaid and rollbacks of green energy initiatives.

Some 7.8 million people would no longer have health insurance with changes to Medicaid, including 5.2 million from the proposed new work requirements on those able-bodied adults up to age 65, with some exceptions, according to the analysis.

As part of those Medicaid changes, 1.4 million people who are in the United States without legal status in state-funded health programs would no longer have coverage. Also, some 400,000 would lose coverage from the termination of a medical provider tax that key Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, want to keep in place

to ensure rural hospitals can keep paying their bills.

Republicans argue that their proposals are intended to strengthen Medicaid and other programs by rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. They want the federal funding to go to those who most need health care and other services, often citing women and children.

But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said those claims are bogus and are simply part of long-running GOP efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as most states have expanded Medicaid to serve more people under the program.

"They just want to strangle health care," Schumer said.

Additionally, the CBO had previously estimated that nearly 4 million fewer people would have food stamps each month due to the legislation's proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Some would see their beneﬁts reduced by about $15 by 2034, the CBO has said.

Republicans criticize the CBO

Ahead of the CBO's release, the White House and Republican leaders criticized the budget ofﬁce in a preemptive campaign designed to sow doubt in its ﬁndings.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the CBO was "ﬂat wrong" because it underestimated the potential revenue growth from Trump's ﬁrst round of tax

breaks in 2017. The CBO last year said receipts were $1.5 trillion, or 5.6% greater than predicted, in large part because of the "burst of high inﬂation" during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

White House Budget Director Russ Vought said when you adjust for "current policy," which means not counting some $4.5 trillion in existing tax breaks that are simply

being extended for the next decade, the overall package actually doesn't pile onto the deﬁcit. He argued that the spending cuts alone, in fact, help reduce deﬁcits by $1.4 trillion over the decade.

But Democrats and even some Republicans call that "current policy" accounting move a gimmick, but it's the approach Senate Republicans intend to use during their consideration of the package to try to show it does not add to the nation's deﬁcits. Vought argued that the CBO is the one using a "gimmick" by tallying the costs of continuing those tax breaks that would otherwise expire.

"Russ is right," Johnson, the House speaker, posted on social media. "Our One Big Beautiful Bill will REDUCE the deﬁcit WHILE delivering on the mandate given to us by the American people. Let's get it done!"

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has also suggested that the CBO's employees are biased, even though certain budget ofﬁce workers face strict ethical rules — including restrictions on campaign donations and political activity — to ensure objectivity and impartiality.

What's at stake

The individual income tax breaks that had been approved during Trump's ﬁrst term in the White House will expire in December if Congress fails to act, in what Republicans warn would be a massive tax hike on many American households.

The package also includes a massive buildup of $350 billion for border security, deportations and national security that is central to the GOP agenda, as well as a $4 trillion increase to the nation's $36 trillion debt limit, which the Treasury Department says is needed by this summer to pay the nation's bills.

THE U.S. Capitol in Washington, Aug. 3, 2020.

Photos:J. Scott Applewhite/AP

SENATE Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ﬁnishes a news conference where he commented on Elon Musk's criticism of President Donald Trump's spending and tax bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 3, 2025.