Recent indications that the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT is not ill-disposed towards St. Maarten seeking a loan to improve the efficiency of the Tax Department are most welcome.
Especially with disappointing first-quarter receipts, enhancing fiscal compliance is crucial, also in light of fairness.
That Government spent less than budgeted is nice, but ultimately bills need to be paid in a timely fashion. Increasing revenue is therefore a must.
However, care must be taken not to make it some fancy project run by relative newcomers that does not connect well with the daily practice at the Inspectorate. Employees “on the ground” need to be fully involved via a bottom-up approach to ensure that what looks good on paper works in the island’s reality as well.
Finance Minister Richard Gibson’s intention to formalise the instruction that taxes owed prior to 2006 should no longer be collected makes sense too. The Island Receiver has been following the order, but still withholds public funds due to parties for such outdated debts, which means only those owed money by Government are being targeted and that hardly constitutes equal treatment.
