Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Grisha Heyliger told Parliament (see Friday/Saturday) edition a system is being worked on to collect taxes from online booking platforms. It will be done as part of modernising the country’s accommodation tax.
At least four consecutive governments have attempted to tax short-term vacation rentals before, so far with little success. The current draft legislation must create a statutory basis to enter into collection agreements with providers like Airbnb, Expedia, VBRO and others.
Meanwhile, this so-called “home sharing” sector continues to unfairly compete with local hotels and resorts expected to be fiscally compliant. There is a growing and some would say urgent need to level that playing field.
No timeline for such came up during the budget debate, but the law proposal had already been sent to Legal Affairs for vetting and feedback was since received. The revenues may possibly be used to fund initiatives of the St. Maarten Tourism Authority being established.
Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs had earlier reported receiving assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre Cartac in this matter. Based on their advice, it is now part of the Tax Transformation Programme reforms.
After all these years, to most people exactly what probably seems less important than when. What they are really looking for at this point is a firm target date.
