St. Maarten News – We’ve been talking about the simplification of the tax system for too long and bureaucracy is killing us,” says Leader of the United St. Maarten Party (USP) Frans Richardson, adding that it is time to stop talking and tackle the tax structure which puts St. Maarten in disadvantageous competitive position. He also said that too much bureaucracy stifles innovation.
“Our tax structure puts us in a bad position to compete, does not attract investors and does not allow for mom and pop entrepreneurs to survive.” Richardson said. “We have the highest profit tax within the region. How do we compete and attract investors? With the ToT and other compliance taxes, we are also not allowing businesses to do business in a way that facilitates growth for the company or the economy,” he said.
Richardson said another deterrent to investors and investor companies, local or foreign, is the appearance of taxes that are not executed but are visible in tax structure documentation. “When an investor company asks to see your tax structure, they will see mentions of all sorts of taxes that might not be implemented now, but could be in the future. Why would they want to invest here or even calculate a return on investment when they are not sure what might come up in the future in terms of taxes. It’s a huge deterrent,” Richardson said.
USP leader laments bureaucratic tax system
