Minister of Finance Hon. Hiro Shigemoto met with the St. Maarten Hospitality Trade Association (SHTA) on Wednesday afternoon and is very pleased to see the positive attitude of the umbrella business representative organization to help make the engaged endeavour of tax reform work.
The Minister of Finance welcomes and also extends the same cooperative sentiments which will count for all stakeholders who are willing to join forces like the SHTA has done to make this new tax system the best one for Country Sint Maarten.
Another result of the meeting is to have extensive discussions with the SHTA and Ministry of Finance and A&M Taxand, which will take place in the coming weeks.
The board of the SHTA which was well represented at the meeting included the President, members of the board, the Executive Director, reps from the Real Estate Association of Sint Maarten (RAM), and the Indian Merchants Association (IMA).
The SHTA were impressed and found common ground in different areas and are willing to cooperate fully in making the redesigning of the nation’s tax system work to the benefit of all.
The Wednesday afternoon meeting with the SHTA and the Minister of Finance, also included advisors from the Ministry of Finance and A&M Taxand. The SHTA received a brief update on the program of reform of the tax system and tax administration that the Ministry of Finance and A&M Taxand are currently engaged.
Key objectives brought forward by A&M Taxand together with the Ministry of Finance during the meeting were, to improve the process of compliance from the perspective of both the taxpayers and tax authorities; to redesign the tax system; and to build a modern state-of-the-art tax administration.
The vision of the Government was also presented which includes raising predictable revenues in order to fund government expenditure based on the principles of economic efficiency, fairness, simplicity and transparency along with stability and predictability.
According to SHTA Executive Director Valya Pantophlet, the SHTA was pleased with the level of information disseminated at the meeting.
"The presentation on the plans for the new tax structure is in line with what SHTA has been advocating for years: lower tax rate, broaden tax base and simplify tax system. SHTA and the Ministry of Finance agreed that the new tax system should be designed in such a way as to stimulate the economy and attract foreign investors.
"The SHTA looks forward to being involved in the process of redesigning the new tax system for country Sint Maarten," SHTA Executive Director Valya Pantophlet said on Wednesday after the meeting.
Minister of Finance Hon. Shigemoto, said the principles identified, one can broaden the tax base -getting everybody to carry their own tax burden-, making tax issues easy to understand and calculate -thus raising tax compliance-, making responsibilities clear for all taxpayers and making the tax authorities more accessible to the public, are key to the future socio-economic development of Country Sint Maarten and its people.