On Saturday, October 24, Commissioner of Finance Bruce Zagers left Saba to urgently travel to Holland for a meeting with State Secretary of Finance, Jan Kees de Jager.
This unanticipated visit to the Netherlands was deemed necessary by both Saba and Statia after an attending a presentation on Bonaire by Dutch Civil Servants regarding the fourth draft tax laws.
Zagers initially was hesitant to travel to the Netherlands on short notice, however, he stated that he felt a "sense of urgency" to meet with the State Secretary and that this was his deciding factor for the working visit. Commissioner Zagers informed GIS that, "A window of opportunity was made available by the State Secretary and we felt it necessary to take advantage of the opportunity to express the islands concerns about the proposed draft laws."
Zagers stressed his dissatisfaction on how the process was handled. Proposals made in the third draft tax laws had been previously discussed at length and several agreements had been made. However, now being several months later, the Islands are presented with a new proposal which has been drafted unilaterally by the Dutch representatives. This new proposal varies significantly from the third proposal.
"The meeting in Bonaire was definitely an eye opener for the Islands", stated Zagers. The meeting was adjourned on a few occasions making it necessary for the islands as well as the Dutch Delegation to hold private discussions. It was determined by the representatives of the BES islands that a letter would be send to the State Secretary voicing the BES islands concerns. This letter will be sent to the Ministry of Finance before the actual meeting with Saba and Statia.
The BES islands received the new draft approximately one week before the presentations on Bonaire. Recently, it was also learnt that this proposal would be sent to the second chamber for approval on Wednesday, October 28th: just a few days after the islands only received the opportunity to get a brief explanation on the proposed tax laws.
"Although the new proposal seems slightly better than the current tax system, there are still areas that vary tremendously from the third draft tax law proposal. I feel that the private sectors of the islands were not adequately taken into consideration with this new proposal. Any new inclusions in the new tax system will have major consequences for each island territory".
Zagers concluded by stating," This visit to the Netherlands will give both Saba and St. Eustatius the opportunity to plea their individual cases to the State Secretary of Finance. This seems to be our only granted opportunity to discuss this proposal before it goes to the Second Chamber. Although there is little time remaining, I look forward to a positive and fruitful meeting with Mr. de Jager."
SOURCE: Saba Government Information Services