Member of Parliament George Pantophlet wants to know why the Minister of Finance Mr. Hiro Shigemoto has not answered the questions submitted to him on December 30, 2010 regarding the possibility of government collecting dividends from Government owned companies. Did the Minister not receive the letter?
The Minister and his government have vehemently pursued the increase of the turn over tax as the only solution to solving the 2011 Budget deficit with the excuse that time was short. But they are not looking at other alternatives except to increase more taxes of course. What is taking him so long? If we are talking about looking forward then the behavior of the past when members of the island council were ignored when asking questions should be just that, a thing of the past. As an elected Member of Parliament a representative of the people I am responsible for their social and economic development. This matter is of utmost importance to the people of St. Maarten. My questions are not of a political but of a financial nature. They are short and to the point. And while the Minister is hopefully busy preparing the answers he can also add the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to the list. Finally in the Budget of 2011 an amount of 25 million guilders is mentioned as dividends budgeted from the Central Bank. Please give us an explanation. After all it is about dividends.