The Democratic Party of Sint Maarten proudly salutes all women on this day of global recognition of the position of women as equal partners in development and sustainable advancement for all humankind.

  On days like IWD, we celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and we also echo the call for elimination of inequalities, discrimination and prejudices against women and girls, that permeate societies today.

  “On days like this, we are most proud of our leader and her steadfastness, never giving up and riding the rough waves of political life, with dignity and poise, a role model for aspiring politicians.

  “When we are able to break down the inequalities that women face in their homes, their workplaces and their communities, through understanding the different dimensions that stand in the way of gender equality, only then can we construct the paths of equity,” the DP leader stated.

  IWD is a celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women throughout the world, past and present.

  “Our celebrations are through the lenses of the St. Maarten women, all St. Maarten women; the movers, the motivators, the mentors, the caregivers, the teachers, the trailblazers, the workers, the entrepreneurs, the academia, the providers, past and present. And we do so with an awesome responsibility for those who follow in our footsteps.

  “In the pursuit of equity, the non-profit leaders on St. Maarten stand head and shoulders above the rest, because they recognize there can be no equality for anyone if there is no equity for everyone, equity that promotes good health, education and economic development for all.”

  Without fail, the topic of technology comes up as a driver of equality. Without fail, technology as a driver without equity, based on technological gaps analyses, will remain out of reach for those most to benefit and progress from technology, and further away from closing the gaps in digital equality.

  As we celebrate the undeniable strides women have made in all sectors and even dominate despite the odds; as we encourage women to use their innate traits of resilience and creativity, leadership and compassion, we must take this time to also reflect on identifying the barriers faced by women right here on this idyllic paradise we call home, barriers that obstruct them from being all that they can be as individuals, as proud members of the community and so much more.

  Embrace equity.

Dear Editor,

  Having discussed this in the past and considering that this topic has been broached by a couple of other persons in the public domain, I would like to again bring this topic of matter up.

  It is the issue of the high-profit tax on our island.

  What is profit tax or corporate tax?

  A corporate tax is a total tax applied to the net profits of a company, i.e. gross profits less expenses, depreciation, operation costs, and other costs.

  The global average corporate tax rate is 23.64% as per Investopedia. St. Maarten (Dutch) has a rate of 34.5%. Whilst our neighbouring islands such as Aruba and Curaçao have a corporate tax of 22%. In addition, a few countries in the Caribbean region such as Anguilla, Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, and the Cayman Islands do not charge a corporation tax at all.

  This structure perhaps assists these islands mentioned above in being more appealing to many entrepreneurs and US businesses. Combined with a simple structure for setting up offshore businesses, they have successfully become destinations for this service.

  Presently, following a decade of debate, 142 countries recently agreed to the first major overhaul of the international tax system in a century.

  With support and under direction from the IMF (International Monetary Fund), multinational companies which have a significant business, but few or no local operations, would not be allowed to allocate profits to countries in absence of physical establishments, thus reducing their dependencies for shell corporations in 0% tax jurisdictions.

  The IMF has also suggested a global minimum effective tax rate of 15%, therefore putting pressure on 0% tax jurisdictions and reducing the need for corporations to hold shell companies.

  Conversely, a very high corporate tax, like in St. Maarten, encourages profit shifting to lower tax jurisdictions. Considering our island which has a higher percentage of small businesses, a lower profit tax rate will encourage businesses to report profits legitimately.

  Reducing the profit tax will boost new investments as a larger book profit makes a business eligible to get financing from a bank more easily. It also reduces the need for a business to use more creative accounting thus letting the money stay in the system.

  Higher financing and more business expansion leads to wage growth and a higher GDP. It would be worthwhile to see what our island’s profit tax collection stands at 34.5% or in other words how many companies are actually profitable and to what extent?

  All in all, we have been immensely stagnant on putting a tax reform into proper action. The positives of reforming our tax system outweigh the negatives we are currently facing. A reduced rate would enable more companies to be included in this ambit of “profitable” companies, which in turn would broaden the base of the collection.

  If our neighbouring islands can progress over the years, what is stopping us?

Viren V. Kotai

Dear Editor,

  I am astonished by the verdict and the reasoning in the article "Company acquitted of Label Tampering" published on March 2nd in The Daily Herald. It is unacceptable that some unauthorized importers and retailers are deliberately altering or removing the supply chain production codes. This is a flagrant violation of the law and a grave threat to all shoppers and consumers.

  Tampering with labels on tobacco, or any other products is intolerable and should be punishable by law. The fact the judge made a “technical error” between wholesale and not retail makes it obvious that our laws need to be updated. For reference and wholesale sells those goods to the retailer and the retailer sells those goods to the final consumer or customer. As any importer, your justification that the supplier “sent it like that” is surely an example of a supplier that you should not be dealing with, obviously not trustworthy and very suspicious. “Know thy supplier” is one of the more basic and common principles that all importers and retailers should adhere to. I wonder if this “sent it like that” excuse would hold up as well if illegal or prohibited goods were found.

  It undermines the efforts of public health authorities to reduce tobacco consumption and protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke. It also deceives consumers who have the right to know what they are buying and using.

  Label tampering is not only illegal, unethical  and irresponsible, but more importantly a serious and danger to all consumers and shoppers in St. Maarten /St Martin. It is a form of fraud that puts profit ahead  consumer safety.

Those who engage in label tampering or purchase products that have had label tampers should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

A very concerned citizen

Dear Editor,

  This is a reminder or rather a warning to all my fellow diabetics. How many of us are there? Several years ago, l called the Diabetes Foundation of St. Maarten to confirm my suspicion that there were at least hundreds of us on the Dutch side. I was assured that there were not hundreds, but thousands living with diabetes. That number must have grown exponentially since then. I was also told that there are many undiagnosed people walking around not even knowing they have the chronic  disease.

  I understand that Aruba – with the assistance of PAHO – is about to have another survey to determine how many of its people are suffering from high blood pressure and glucose level measurements. It would be nice if St. Maarten would follow suit.

  I have been a type 2 diabetic for longer than I can remember, certainly, for more than 40 years. Until recently, I have never suffered from hyperglycaemia (the level of glucose in the blood is too high). My blood sugar level was almost always just a little on the high side. Neither have I suffered from hypoglycaemia (when the level of glucose drops too low); at least not that I know of.

  I would occasionally wake up during the night feeling something was off. My first thought was always that it was diabetes-related. I would check my blood glucose level and as expected, find it was a little on the low side. I would then treat it myself by eating or drinking something sugary and within a very short time the unwell feeling would go away, and I would go back to sleep.

  However, as of late, when my blood sugar dropped even lower, I would no longer wake up from my sleep. My wife, thank God she is a light sleeper, would be awakened by my tossing and turning. I would be, according to her, swinging my hands wildly, holding my head, talking nonsense, and displaying other weird behaviour. Once, according to her, I even fell off the bed onto the floor. She had to lift me up and put me back on the bed. On these nights, she would feed me some cookies and sugary juice, which she always kept on the night table next to her bed. Shortly after doing so, she would notice my eyes clear up and I would begin answering her questions clearly. She then knew I was back to being myself again. The next morning, she would tell me about my weird behaviour the previous night, but I would always tell her that she was exaggerating. At my daughter’s suggestion, she videotaped me one night; needless to say, I did not like what I saw.

  Then came Valentine’s Day which turned out to be a nightmare for my wife. She was again rudely awakened by my weird behaviour. Only this time I was not reacting to her in the least. After trying in vain for an hour to get me to eat or drink something sugary (I was unable to answer her questions and open my mouth to be fed), she called the ambulance.

  The ambulance was there within 20 minutes. Before the ambulance arrived, I had somehow regained consciousness.  I was annoyed that she had called the ambulance, but got dressed and went to the porch to wait for them. I had fully intended to apologize to them for needlessly calling them. However, my wife insisted that they check me out. And I am glad they did.

  The two paramedics were very professional. They sat me down and checked my blood sugar. When I heard one of them tell the other, “His blood sugar is 57”, I got scared. Even in my confused mind, I knew that was bad news. A measurement of 54 is an indication that I was suffering from severe hypoglycaemia, a very dangerous situation to be in.

  The paramedic immediately proceeded to inject a sugary liquid directly into a vein in my hand. Within a few minutes he checked my blood sugar again and it had risen to 177. My wife and I both uttered a sigh of relief. We both thanked the paramedics for their help.

  Here lies the danger. I had checked my glucose level that night before going to bed and it had been 202. Therefore, had the ambulance not come, I would simply have gone back to sleep and could have possibly fallen into a diabetic coma. My wife would have thought I was peacefully sleeping but instead I could have woken up dead.

  To all my diabetic friends, educate yourself on the dangers of hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia. Learn about the devastating irreversible complications (blindness, strokes, amputations, kidney failure, heart disease) and a host of other things that will eventually pounce on us if we don’t take better care of ourselves. Our future quality of life depends entirely on us. Most men, including myself, are naturally stubborn and are very reluctant to go to the doctor. My doctor once referred to me as “stupid stubborn” and she was right.

 And yes, appreciate your wife, and don’t accuse her of exaggerating.

Clive Hodge