Shameless Shane Gibson, the man who granted special privileges to Anna Nicole Smith when he was Minister in charge of Immigration, is back to his old tricks again.
Gibson’s tenure as immigration Minister was fraught with problems and roundly condemned.
He also got into hot water while acting as Minister of Housing.
Even top-ranking PLPs thought Gibson was political trash.
This is the same clown who once threatened to reveal the FNM Parliamentarians who might have been involved in gay orgies. That was Gibson’s response to potential revelations of his own wrong doings. Childish tit-for-tat.
Gibson was also the guy who said The Bahamas doesn’t need foreign workers.
Now, Gibson is threatening to disclose the names of past and present Opposition Members of Parliament who, at one time or another, were delinquent in paying their taxes. This is Gibson’s response to the criticism of Ishmael Lightbourne, the government’s top official on Value Added Tax (VAT), who hasn’t paid his property taxes in ten years.
Lightbourne, admitted that he had not paid the property taxes on his upscale western New Providence beachfront home for almost 10 years.
This spurred numerous calls for Mr Lightbourne’s dismissal, a reasonable request given the fact that he has lost all credibility on the subject of taxes.
But Mr. Gibson, being the immature fool that he is, is threatening to expose Free National Movement (FNM) and other opposition public officials who have fallen behind in meeting their financial obligations.
What a lout! If he gave a damn about The Bahamas, and the people of The Bahamas, he would expose ALL corrupt politicians who are not paying their taxes… not just FNM’s. But all selfish Shane thinks about is childish, political tit-for-tat. He lacks any integrity, ethics or concern for The Bahamas.
“When you look historically at the persons in high positions currently and formally here in The Bahamas who never paid their real property taxes… to me, it is a concern because you should always pay your taxes particularly when you are in government,” he said. “I think it is hypocritical.”
Really Shane?!?
If he is really concerned, why has he not called for the full disclosure of tax info on ALL politicians. And why would he not support the firing of Mr Lightbourne, if he thinks government officials who don’t pay their taxes are hypocritical?
“When I finish disclosing the details of all of the persons and I am not going to limit it to persons who are serving now, I’m going to expand it to persons who previously served and didn’t pay their real property taxes and who subsequently ran ahead and caught some of the amnesty periods that we would have offered and show the hypocrisy of this.”
Yet, the fool doesn’t see the hypocrisy in his own threats. Why limit his revelations to FNM politicians? Either he thinks politicians should pay their taxes or he doesn’t. But only a selfish, petty, hypocritical little man would think that opposition MP’s should have to pay their taxes… but not the people in his own party.
The ultimate irony is that Mr Gibson himself has been delinquent with his taxes.
Gibson didn’t give a timeframe for when he will disclose the names of the delinquent officials but he assured that the information will be shared with the public.
“When I have completed my research I will disclose the information and let the chips fall where they may and let the public decide who’s being a hypocrite,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, FNM Chairman Darron Cash fired back at Mr. Gibson’s comments late Tuesday.
“[Tuesday’s] announcement from Minister Shane Gibson was simple – open your mouth and say anything against me that I do not like and I will use my high office to expose you and all of your sins,” Mr. Cash said.
If you are a public official, and you know of other politicians breaking the law, you have an obligation to disclose that information, not just use the revelations as a threat to quiet your enemies.
For an elected official, a representative of the government, to hide information of wrong doing may be a crime in and of itself.
What all of this shows is that our country is being run by a bunch of unethical crooks.
“The fact that people of prominence owe taxes is a clear indication of what might be wrong with the current system. Being broke is not a sin. This administration’s unwillingness to fix a broken system is,” said Mr Cash.
Bahamians should demand an accounting of the tax obligations of all elected officials.
Meanwhile, tax-dodger Ishmael Lightbourne remains in his position and has stated that he has no intentions of resigning.
