Bermuda residents took an average of 2.5 trips in 2006, apparently taking advantage of lower air fares to the US and elsewhere.

That’s good news for airlines and travel agents, but not such good news for the local retail sector, because when residents travel they spend — an estimated $63.8 million last year, up 5.2 percent or 3.8 percent from the year before. Much of the increased spending is reported to have gone on clothing, which is being blamed on the closure of Trimingham’s.

That means that almost nine percent of Bermudians’ total retail spending goes directly abroad, and that does not include mail order or Internet purchases, which, inexplicably, the Department of Statistics does not collate.

The bottom line is that this is money earned in Bermuda which then leaves the Island forever.

In the long term, this trend is likely to see more closures, and the gradual but certain death of the local retail sector, outside of supermarkets and the sellers of other perishable or too-bulky-to-bring-home-on-the-plane goods. That will have an obvious impact on jobs and local wealth generation, but will also reduce Bermuda’s quality of life.

While local retailers may well be responsible for some of their own woes, they also carry a disproportionate share of the tax burden, especially when many are taking profits that are marginal at best.

It would be welcome to see Government restrain its own spending, which has consistently exceeded inflation, and reduce the tax burden on retailers, either through a reduction in payroll tax, or in the overall level of Customs duty. If the Ministry of Finance was able to get its sums right, this could well be achieved without a reduction in actual tax revenue, since a growing retail sector, importing more goods and employing more people, could end up paying the same amount in taxes as it does now.

The alternative? An ever shrinking retail tax base, as more and more stores go to the wall, and an increased tax burden on the rest of the community to satisfy a permanently voracious Government appetite for money.