tax Bahamas into better health’

of obesity in the country, and you and I know that’s not true,” he added. “It’s calories in, calories out. If you eat more on a daily basis than you burn up, you gain weight. You cannot tax a country into good health, you need to educate the country into good health.”

Kendrick Delaney, owner/operator of the New Duff, told Tribune Business that the Government would be better off implementing a national lottery rather than trying to implement a sugar tax that will not be effective in the long run.

“I believe that sugar taxes work extremely well as a revenue generator, but it’s a poison pill for businesses, small businesses in particular, because the costs are really passed on to consumers, therefore making our products more expensive.

I don’t believe it’s the best way to have the same outcome as reducing chronic care illnesses overall,” he said.

“A better way to achieve that would be to be brave enough to ask the number houses to be nationalised and use those funds to train kids from a young age to learn the effects of sugar, fat and salt on their diets, as opposed to trying to fix this after the fact. Because if people are already addicted to sugar, how are we going to change that behaviour by increasing the cost of it on the business? It’s not the best solution.”

Prime Minister Philip Davis, KC yesterday said there will be “no new taxes” on sugar products or otherwise. “We are attempting to cause Bahamians to understand what sugar is to their health. We have put a framework in place to determine whether or not it will be done, but nothing is happening in that regard and nothing is happening any time soon,” he added. “We’re talking to industry to see how they’re able to lessen sugar in the ingredients for sodas, etc, because the stats have shown it is one of the significant contributors to the noncommunicable diseases, something that this country is struggling with as I speak. So know that that is not going to be done this year. I don’t see it coming very soon either.”

Mexico implemented a sugar tax on soft drinks in 2014, and results have shown in a study in Health Affairs that purchases of taxed drinks have dropped by an average of 7.6 percent between 2012 and 2015. Additionally, purchases of untaxed beverages increased by 2.1 percent in the same study period.

Karla Wells-Lisgaris, director at Caribbean Bottling Company, added: “We are naturally reluctant to see any tax introduced that could compromise the viability of local manufacturing of such products, although we fully understand and agree that health and wellness of our people is of vital importance.

“We are not clear on what type of tax is being considered, and so it is

Air Transport Association), in Miami, Florida, to provide its members with an update on the new charging scheme,” Mr Cooper said.

“It was during this meeting that the IATA members expressed strong concerns over The Bahamas’ charging scheme, basically characterising it as prohibitive with no new or incremental services provided for the additional cost imposed, and that the cross-subsidisation of lower air space operations by the overflight fees was at variance with the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) cross-relatedness principle.”

The Bahamas subsequently pushed back against this criticism, including during a Nassau meeting between IATA’s regional vice-president for the Americas and Mr Cooper’s office. However, the differences quickly escalated when American Airlines made a formal protest over having to pay The Bahamas some $4.2m in fees for the six-month period June to November 2022.

“On November 29, 2022, The Bahamas was advised by the IATA Clearing House (ICH), where the bulk of the airline payments are cleared, that American Airlines lodged a formal protest on its payments for the last six months (June to November 2022), which totalled $4.2m,” Mr Cooper asserted.

“Following the rules of the ICH, BANSA presented a formal response on December 8, 2022, justifying the validity of The Bahamas’ fee charging scheme, and how it was considered to be consistent with ICAO principles. On December 15, 2022, The Bahamas was advised by the ICH that, having reviewed the position of American Airlines and The Bahamas, it concluded that a substantive dispute existed between the two parties.

“Under the ICH rules, therefore, the ICH notified that the $4.2m in dispute would be held in an escrow account until the matter is resolved.” The dispute was then widened when the Airlines4America group, which includes American Airlines, Jet Blue, FedEx, Delta, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and the United Parcel Service, filed their complaint that The Bahamas’ air navigation services fee regime was “unjust and discriminatory”.

“This acceleration in the dispute presented huge consequences for the stability of funding our air navigation services and the continuity of operations of our domestic carriers into the US,” Mr Cooper said. However, as previously reported by Tribune Business, the US Department of Transportation dismissed the airlines’ allegations, asserting: “We cannot conclude in those circumstances that the fee structure constitutes unjustifiable or unreasonable discrimination.”

With the dispute now having moved from the airline industry to the inter-government level, the deputy prime minister added: “The Government remains committed to achieving a successful resolution of all continuing concerns with the cost basis analysis for our overflight fees.

“We are keen to protect The Bahamas’ sovereign rights to recover the level of fees necessary to provide air navigational services to our air space users, which should include building out both the human and infrastructure capital necessary to eventually take control of the management of our airspace. Our intention is also to ensure that The Bahamas’ fee charging scheme is compliant with ICAO principles.” premature to second guess the Government and we are pleased that dialogue and consultation will take place. Ultimately it is in everyone’s interest to see improvement in our country’s health profile. However, this will not happen without ongoing education.”

Nevette Cooper-Missick, owner/operator of Cake my Day, added: “I don’t know how I should feel about his.

I’m going to be honest with you, cakes are not healthy, but cakes are not something you are supposed to be eating every day anyway. They are supposed to be for celebrations and special events.

“Too much of anything can be a bad thing for you. But I believe that anything that tries to take away personal freedoms, I have a problem with that because at the end of the day if someone wants to eat cake ten times a day that’s their free will. They can do that. I don’t think a tax would necessarily deter people from buying something that they want because if they want it they would spend the money to get it.”

A snack-food wholesaler, speaking under the condition of anonymity, said that as a new business implementing a tax just as they are starting off will make things difficult for them. “Right now 100 percent juices are duty free, but if they go up on it it won’t be good for me. But it’s the Government and they can do what they want to do,” they added.