Vexed Bermoothes

Land licenses are in the news again.  Bermudians with non Bermudian spouses or POSSLQs have until June 22 to apply for a license ($1375) or face possible $1 million fines and getting sharks with frickkin lasers on their heads sikked on them.

This policy supposedly is designed to protect Bermudian ownership of land for future generations based on a estimate from Government that 37% of the landmass potentially is in the hands of non locals.

• Government has not elaborated how much of that figure is made up of Bermudian/non-Bermudian families vs corporate owners vs foreign individuals.  There is a big difference.
• At the same time, the PLP has encouraged the sale of property to otherwise unconnected foreigners in the resort and fractional condo market. In fact, they have repeatedly given new tax concessions for those developers (in the guise of stimulating tourism).
• Back in 2007 the PLP also expanded the ability of international business to take long leases on property, and in this year’s budget even allows them to buy fractionals (now that the tourism gambit has failed, in the guise of stimulating the developers).

Bermuda is enriched by the non-Bermudian spouses who choose to join our community. Many of Bermuda’s familiar names and faces arrived in this way, and the tradition will continue as more smart young Bermudians seek education and work opportunity overseas.  We want that … we should encourage it.

This policy just doesn’t make sense.  It hassles the locals, while actually promoting land transfers to foreigners.  And it has not caught a single “fronter” yet.