Minister of Finance Hon. Hiro Shigemoto recently attended a meeting where he was apprised of the next phase of the process to reform the country’s tax system which will result in the end with an attractive and socially acceptable system.
The Minister was informed that the proposals to reform the system are in the finalisation phase. A number of meetings have been held with various stakeholders and will continue in the coming weeks and months.
Stakeholders that have been informed about the tax reform project are: St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA), Tax Foundation, Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Social Insurance Bank (SZV), the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT, the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten (CBCS), Department of Economic Affairs, among others.
The Council of Ministers (COM) were updated about the second phase (tax reform) and third (implementation). COM has since approved those phases; the Work Group New Tax System was dissolved, and two Project Leaders were appointed to coordinate the entire project leading to a smooth transition and implementation of the new tax reform tentatively set for January 1, 2013.
Before the new tax system is implemented there will be a full information campaign informing civil society about the aforementioned.
“I am very pleased with the interests in the tax reform project that has been shown by all stakeholders. We are well on our way in revamping our national tax system and I am looking forward to when the process has been finalized and we have a new system in place,” Minister of Finance Hon. Hiro Shigemoto said on Friday.
The Ministry of Finance is currently steering the process to revamp the country’s tax system making it easy to understand, easy to collect and leading to economic efficiency, fairness, transparency, and a stable and predictable system to fund public expenditures and create further economic growth therefore contributing to employment opportunities for the population.