Minister of Finance Hon. Hiro Shigemoto says that Dutch State Secretary of Finance Frans Weekers should look at what more Holland can do within its public entities with respect to the tax burden on the people of Saba and St. Eustatius.
Secondly, the Minster is also of the opinion that Holland needs to deal with open and unresolved issues that includes Sint Maarten since the dissolution of the former Netherlands Antilles.
In June, a meeting took place between Sint Maarten Minister of Finance and Dutch State Secretary of Finance Weekers where many issues were discussed, among others the price increase in Saba and St. Eustatius as a result of the introduction of a General Consumption Tax (Algemene Bestedingsbelasting-ABB) in these islands, which went into effect on January 1, 2011 and also because of the constitutional change within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
As of 10-10-10, Sint Maarten, Curaçao and the Dutch “public entities” Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire became separate jurisdictions.
As a consequence, the inter-island exemption within the Netherlands Antilles for the Turn over Tax (ToT) on the delivery of goods between Sint Maarten and Saba and St. Eustatius does not apply anymore.
Instead, the normal export-exemption in the ToT Ordinance is applicable: for tax purposes, Saba and St. Eustatius are considered as a foreign country and are treated the same as any other country according to the tax laws.
It doesn’t matter anymore if an entrepreneur wants to export goods to Saba, the United States or even the Netherlands; the same tax regime applies. However, in the event that an export-company does not meet the criteria for the export-exemption, ToT will be levied on the goods.
Apparently, this has been the case with exports to Saba and St. Eustatius. Because of this and the introduction of the ABB in Saba and St. Eustatius (6% on goods and 25% on cars), an accumulation of taxes has occurred.
“It is obvious that the Netherlands has first and foremost caused the costs of living to increase in Saba and St. Eustatius when the two islands became Dutch public entities and an integral part of Holland. It is not correct that State Secretary Frans Weekers blames Sint Maarten for not acting fairly.
“Although not directly related to this issue, however, very unfair is the fact that the consumers on Sint Maarten during current hard economic times have to contribute to the subsidizing of the cost of producing and providing electricity and water to the Dutch public entities Saba and St. Eustatius in this part of Caribbean Holland.
“This point too was discussed with Minister Weekers, and although he correctly pointed out that is not his jurisdiction it is still a burden involving millions of guilders on the people of Sint Maarten.
“We must also look at Winair which was primarily set-up to service the islands of St. Eustatius and Saba, and here again the people of Sint Maarten are with the burden, and this too can be addressed by the Netherlands and the later needs to step up to the table now rather than later to discuss and resolve these open issues,” Minister of Finance Hon. Hiro Shigemoto explained on Sunday.