MP Heyliger presents local and international funding options to the Ministers of Finance and Economic Affairs | SOUALIGA NEWSDAY

SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) – Member of Parliament (MP) Grisha Heyliger Marten has sent a letter dated to April 25, 2022, to the Minister of Finance Hon. Ardwell Irion and Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Hon. Roger Lawrence with respect to local and international funding options for the Government of Sint Maarten.

MP Heyliger Marten April 25 letter reads as follows:

Honorable Ministers,

I refer to my letter with questions addressed to the Hon. Prime Minister and yourselves dated May 18^th, 2021, with reference IS/665/2021.

On July 14^th, 2021, I received the attached answers from the Hon. Minister of Finance with reference IS/665/2021, for which I thank him.

As I have indicated on several occasions with regards to constitutional reform, the COHO, and capacity building, I believe that the latter should take place with international assistance based on St. Maarten’s right to a full measure of self-government.

In this regard, I also refer to the information I recently sought from the Hon. Prime Minister on the discussions between the four Prime Minister of the Kingdom with the United Nations Secretary-General about St. Maarten accessing funding from outside of the Kingdom.

The above does not mean that St. Maarten should not seek local options for securing its financial viability. On the contrary, I fully support the ideas as outlined in the “Path to Economic Recovery”. In my opinion, realizing these ideas in conjunction with constitutional reform and the capacity building as referred to earlier, are the only viable alternative to any type of COHO structure for St. Maarten.

As such, I would hereby like to provide the following suggestions related to income-generating measures that could significantly increase the revenues for Government, and can be incorporated in the economic recovery plan of Government.

You are kindly requested to provide the Parliament with your views on these suggestions and estimated potential revenues for the Government of St. Maarten at your earliest convenience.

• Implement a charge on international credit card sales as an alternative to an online purchasing charge, in order to prevent loss of business transactions on the Dutch side of the island.
• Consider executing the motion of November 12^th, 2018, in order to secure revenues from AirBnB and VRBO sales on the island.
• Consider the implementation of an environmental head tax, which based on the current passenger volumes can generate millions of guilders for the coffers of Government.
• Consider the implementation of a “sin tax” on alcohol, tobacco, and gambling.
• Consult with the Minister of Finance of Curaçao on his decision to implement a tax forgiveness/write-off policy that, from what I have understood, has significantly increased tax compliance and revenues.
• Can these suggestions be effectuated by January 1^st, 2023.

In light of the handling of the COHO draft legislation at the Parliaments within the Kingdom, and in order for Parliament to have a timely overview of the potential alternatives for increasing local revenues for Government as part of an alternative to the COHO, I am hereby requesting you to provide your responses no later than May 31^st, 2022, including the responses from the Hon. Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication to questions 1-5 in my letter of May 18^th, 2022.