International Trade

The customs department falls under the ministry of finance, which is headed, by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance for The Bahamas, The Hon. Perry Christie. The main role of the customs department is to collect government revenue. Many islands have either one or more custom’s offices present as shown in Fig.5. Some islands include Cat Island, Bimini, San Salvador, Andros, Exuma, Abaco, Grand Bahamas and New Providence. The Headquarters of the customs department is in Nassau, New Providence. The customs department plays an important role in international trade because it enforces trade restrictions on both imported and exported items. The customs department of The Bahamas is also responsible for the replacement of perishable or other goods prior to payment of duty, aircraft cargo inspections, vessel cargo inspection, container cargo inspection and the inspection of commodities imported under the Duty Free concessions.

The custom department mainly enforces customs duties which reduces the amount of the products that Bahamians are willing and able to purchase outside of the country. All persons importing cargo on a vessel or aircraft must complete and submit a “Home Consumption Entry Form” at the time of arrival under customs regulations. The forms and supporting documents must be presented to Customs Entry Checking. The goods that are not collected within five days will be transferred to the Government’s Warehouse which is also known as the bonded warehouse. The customs department also charges fees for supporting documents.

Chapter 1 mentioned the various taxes collected by the Customs Department. Each of the taxes mentioned has an agreed rate. The Departure Tax, which is, also known as Passenger Tax is a tax of $15 that is collected from every person that is above the age of six who departs from a port outside The Bahamas. The Ticket Tax is a $7 charge per person on every ticket sold for travel to a foreign port. The Customs Duty’s average...