Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Michael Pintard said the government’s projections for the 2026/2027 fiscal year are “bogus,” as he accused the Davis administration of painting an inaccurate picture of the state of The Bahamas’ finances.
Pintard said the government is spending surperfluously while placing too high a burden on tax payers who are already struggling to afford basic necessities.
“It is a budget of fantastical financial propositions that are not grounded in reality,” Pintard said.
“This budget represents the PLP administration continuing to extract from the people of The Bahamas far too many taxes, despite the hardship that many of the people face in affording housing, food, fuel and general living.”
The government is projecting a budget surplus of $223.1 million for the upcoming fiscal year, driven by a revenue projection of $4.4 billion and estimated expenditure of $4.1 billion.
Pintard, however, said he believes the figures to be unrealistic.
Up to the end of March 2026, the government had collected $2.5 billion in revenue for the 2025/2026 fiscal year. It has projected that it would collect $3.89 billion in revenue over the course of the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.
Citing hundreds of millions owed to vendors, Pintard said the government is touting a “phantom surplus”.
“Madam Speaker, Bahamians are caving in under the weight of rising prices in this country, and rather than give back some of that money to them to pay their bills in more meaningful tax relief, this government wants to boast about having a $75 million dollar surplus this year and $223 million next fiscal year,” he said.
“Mind you, the government owes all kind of vendors, people, and companies who are desperately seeking to be paid. All that money owed, but they want to speak of phantom surpluses.
“We know the two tricks that one can play with books to accomplish that. Their surpluses projections are bogus, a cheap magician’s trick that lands nowhere close to for the people who desperately need the relief from the burdens of their lavish living, high flying, and fine dining.
“Madam Speaker, in 2019-2020, the government of the Bahamas collected some 876 million dollars in VAT. Now the government forecasts collecting $1.6 billion, almost twice the amount.”
Pintard said that while the Davis administration has managed to collect $12.5 billion in taxes over the past five years, there is not enoguh to show for it.
“Over five years, the Davis administration will have spent $17.4 billion,” he said.
“… Look around The Bahamas. Look within The Bahamas. Consider the experience of government in The Bahamas. Did we get $17.4 billion worth of expenditure? Did we get new fire trucks? Pay our nurses?
“Nassau is dirty. Our energy platform is failing us. Our hospital is in the worst shape it has ever been in its history, according to the professionals who work in it. Our roads are deplorable. Our schools still can’t get what they need to do their jobs properly, and now there is just more of the same — more excessive travel, more spending on consultancies for which results seem nonexistent, more spending on Beaches and Parks with little to show, more PPP commitments with obligations that seem a mystery.
“Madam Speaker, this budget should have specific line items to address the following pressing concerns of Bahamians.”
Pintard also again rasied concern over the transfer of $700 million in borrowed funds to the National Investment Fund (NIF), questioning the rationale and noting a lack of transparency regarding the fund.
“I was in the House when the NIF Act was passed,” he said.
“That act calls for the creation of a board and other governing structures.
“What kind of dark governance exists in this country that the government could secretly set up boards for public purposes and say nothing to anyone?
“Who are the directors of the board of the NIF? Where were the accounts of the NIF held? What authority permitted the government to transfer funds to the NIF?
“Who controls the accounts of the NIF, and what are their credentials? [We have had] $700 million of borrowed monies on which interest is paid just casually transferred to some phantom fund.”
Minister of Finance Michael Halkitis has maintained that the transfer to the NIF was done legally, noting the use of a borrowing resolution.
However, experts have noted that such a resolution would have authorized the incurring of the debt, but not the spending of the borrowed funds.
No one has since provided any other explanation or mechanism that was used to authorize the transfer.
