~ Vehicle tax might be off the table ~
PHILIPSBURG--Finance Minister Richard Gibson Sr. might be taking the motor vehicle tax off the table for good and instead will be pursuing the collection of US $13 million in taxes owed by the casino sector.
Gibson told Members of Parliament (MPs) during a meeting of the Central Committee on Thursday that the motor vehicle tax might “never come back” because other avenues could be pursued.
Gibson said this particular category of businesses owed government NAf. 13 million in taxes that had not been collected “and they can afford to pay. Hence, I have a major problem in increasing [motor vehicle] tax to collect [an additional] NAf. 1.6 million. I would rather spend time and energy to collect the NAf. 13 million [from the casino industry].”
Gibson said steps were already underway to collect the outstanding taxes from casinos. “It’s just a matter of making up a document and with that step alone you will adequately cover the NAf. 1.6 million” that the motor vehicle tax was intended to raise, he said.
The Minister, in office for just about two weeks, said the NAf. 13 million had not been collected in the past because the Receiver “has to go a different route to collect this. Normally she has authority to use a marshal to take the necessary actions to collect taxes, but she needed a mandate to authorise her in a civil track that she has to follow to collect this money.”
He said steps would be taken to formally withdraw the draft legislation to increase motor vehicle tax for review, but stressed that he could not say at this stage whether the draft law would be tabled again.
Thursday was Gibson’s first time in Parliament in his capacity as Finance Minister. In his introduction, he said the draft legislation had been submitted by the former Government and he had had the opportunity to look at it. He said there were changes he would like to make to the draft and requested that Parliament allow him to put it on hold so that steps could be taken to have the draft legislation withdrawn. He said a method was needed to respond better to the needs of the populace.
The draft ordinance had been presented to assist in raising more revenue in connection with the country’s budgetary problems, but Gibson insisted that if pursued, this had to be done taking the social impact to the populace into consideration.
United St. Maarten Party (USP) MP Frans Richardson suggested that Gibson consider categorising vehicles according to their value and those that had more value, luxury vehicles, should pay more. He said it was unfair for “the small man” to have to pay the same as persons driving luxury vehicles. He also spoke about the congestion on the road.
United People’s (UP) party MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson urged Gibson to look at heavy equipment and frequency in usage of the roads in his review of the draft law. He said heavy equipment did more damage to the road structure than any car could. He said too that persons who operated heavy equipment might not be averse to paying more for better quality roads.
Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo alluded to the number of vehicles on the roads and said better quality roads were needed.
National Alliance (NA) MP Christophe Emmanuel said vehicle emissions and weight should be taken into consideration in the adjusted legislation. He referred to the quality of the road network and said the contractors must be using cheap materials.
NA MP George Pantophlet suggested that government look into having Government-owned companies pay dividends and help contribute to Government coffers. He said too that Government could pursue revenues by collecting taxes from the homes that are rented on the island for huge amounts per month. He spoke of some homes being rented for as much as US $15,000 per month.
Independent MP Maurice Lake said there was “a lot of money” circulating in the economy and Government just needed to go out and collect it. He said the marinas, for example, were making millions and Government could start taxing them for use of water rights. He also suggested introducing tourist drivers’ licences similar to what Anguilla is doing.
Like several other MPs, NA MP Rodolphe Samuel said he had been surprised to learn about the draft legislation. He said he was not in favour of an increase. He also suggested that increasing road tax was not the answer. He said, for example, that increasing the tax for luxury vehicles would not exclude family members from registering their vehicles in French St. Martin to avoid paying the tax in Dutch St. Maarten.
NA MP Hyacinth Richardson noted that the architects of the draft law were not even present for the session. He said it was unfair to target persons who did not have the means to pay the increase. He urged authorities to find other ways to generate revenues.
Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot Williams also commented on the issue.
Gibson said he would take the suggestions into account in reviewing the law. The last administration brought the law to Parliament in a speedy fashion and some corners had been cut, including skipping submitting the draft to the Social Economic Council SER, he said.
