Member of Parliament George Pantophlet says that he is not satisfied with the efforts made by government in looking for other alternatives to cover the Budget deficit instead of increasing the Turn over Tax from 3 to 5%. Sitting down 1 day with all the stakeholders would have been the responsible thing to do.
Facts are that the stakeholders were not consulted as is being noticed by their complaints appearing in the media. Also more clarity is still needed as to why the 77 million guilders that remains from the 182 million guilders deposited on the Central Bank by the Dutch government for payment arrears cannot be used to reduce the Budget deficit. The purpose for this debt relief was to give the inhabitants of St. Maarten a good starting position. And beginning the year 2011 with tax increases is not what the people had in mind. The Member of Parliament wants to know what happened to dividends from government owned companies such as the Harbor, the Juliana International Airport and Gebe N.V and Telem. If agreements were signed between government and these companies indicating why they are not paying dividends then this should explained to the people of St. Maarten with solid facts. After all these are companies owned by the people of St. Maarten. There are statements circulating that the harbor and the airport are sitting on millions of guilders. If accessing these funds will have negative financial consequences on these government owned companies this too should be proven. If not dividends should be paid. Government should not be looking for the easy way out. Happy New Year from the government of St. Maarten.