Bermuda?s duty structure does hurt retailers, according to the Chamber of Commerce. Chamber president Charles Gosling spoke out on behalf of the Chamber after a claim in yesterday from Finance Minister Paula Cox that the Island?s tariff structure could not be blamed for Trimingham?s decision to shut its doors after 163 years in business.

Ms Cox has also said, since the shock announcement from Trimingham?s, that there was no indication that the sector was suffering to the point of needing duty relief.

Mr. Gosling said the Chamber wished to respond to the article on duty and how it impacts the retail sector.

The assertion that the duty structure isn?t a burden for retailers was false, Mr. Gosling said. ?We need to point out it (duty) does hurt retail and it is an enormous burden having to pay up front.?

Past president of Trimingham?s, Eldon Trimingham ? who handed over management of the retail company to his son, Lawrence, seven years ago ? has blamed the duty structure for Trimingham?s demise.

He has also since the closure was announced, called for Government to reconsider doing away with duty in favour of a sales tax, something Mr. Trimingham Sr. has long lobbied for.

Yesterday the Chamber agreed that sales tax would be ?a fairer tax as it is a consumption tax?.

The Chamber of Commerce counts about 150 retailers as members, but Mr. Gosling said the opinion of how all retailers feel about the Island?s retail sector ? especially after the Trimingham?s announcement ? was still being assessed.

Another member of the Chamber?s retail division pointed out that Bermuda?s duty structure puts the Island?s retail sector on a different level than other sectors.

?There is not a level playing field with other business,? he said, adding that he felt the Island?s duty structure had played a part in the demise of Trimingham?s.

As for the future of the retail sector, he continued: ?Employment in retail will continue to suffer as other businesses close,? adding that all these reasons were why the Chamber has continued to lobby Government for duty relief.

Retailers, through the Chamber, have long petitioned Government for a duty-free platform, or at the very least concessions similar to those granted to hotels and restaurants through 2009, that allow for supplies for refurbishment to be brought in duty free.

Ms Cox maintained that retailers had already been helped by Government lowering the duty rate for tourist-related goods.

Mr. Gosling said: ?The Minister is indeed correct when she states the duty on ?tourist related goods? has been consistently reduced and is below the standard 22.25 percent tax [however while a 6.5 percent duty on cotton or cotton blends is not a necessarily high tax to pay, it is also a cost other shopping regions do not have.?

Mr. Gosling said there were also outside costs for retailers as a result of the Island?s customs tariff structure.

?Every retail importer has to have, or source out, customs clearance specialists. Depending on the size of the company or complexity of the goods imported there can easily be more than several people involved in this process.

?Not only is there a salary cost which our US or Canadian competitor does not have to include in their mark-up, but there are also the added costs involved in the added up-front costs involved in what today are necessities of today?s business,? he said.

In detail, Mr. Gosling said some of the ?up-front? costs were ?the 33.5 percent duty on the truck used to pick the goods off the dock, the 22.25 percent on the computer, office desk and chair, the carpeting, light fixture, pen, pencil and more which our competitor ? not the store across the street but the one across the water ? does not have in their cost structure or have to include in their mark-up.?

Mr. Gosling said this did not apply just to retailers carrying tourist-related items, but to all retailers across the island ? especially the many importing goods which carry the higher duty burden of 22.25 percent or 33.5 percent.

He also cited Government?s granting of relief to farmers, but not retailers, as a puzzle.

?Instead we have a duty structure providing benefits to an agrarian society Bermuda stopped being several generations ago,? Mr. Gosling added.

He then listed items Government recently moved to put a zero percentage rate of duty: ?Haymaking machinery, straw or fodder balers, other harvesting machinery, threshing machinery, machines for cleaning, sorting or grading eggs, other agricultural, horticultural, forestry, poultry-keeping or bee-keeping machinery, including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders.?

Mr. Gosling said: ?Can this be retail re-inventing itself??