Philipsburg:--- Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt made clear on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that the police would have to do more controls and do it better in the future. The Finance Minister was responding to questions posed by SMN News regarding the checks that are normally conducted at the Island Receiver's office when owners of vehicles pay their annual road tax. In the past, even up to early 2012 vehicle owners had to produce a valid insurance policy and inspection card for their vehicles before they were able to pay their road tax and uplift their new number plates. Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt told reporters on several occasions that the current government intends to restructure the road tax payment as early as 2014. Tuitt said vehicle owners would no longer need to pick up new number plates since the one they have on their vehicles now will become permanent. The Finance Minister said that vehicle owners would be able to pay their road taxes online, these services he said would make life much easier for the citizens of St. Maarten who normally have to join long lines at the Island Receiver's office every year to pay their road tax.
SMN News reporter asked the Minister of Finance if government has anything in place for the control especially when it comes to seeing if the vehicle owners paid their insurance, Minister Tuitt said that the police would have to do their job now by conducting more controls to see if vehicle owners have their insurance and inspection cards in place. He said that the Island Receiver's office will not be doing police work anymore. Minister Tuitt said that the new procedure will not change anything. "People will not be picking up number plates anymore, the only thing that will be done is people will pay their road taxes. When the police do their controls they would simply have to impound vehicles that do not have insurance and other required documents when they are stopped by the police."
According to well place sources, the Police Department (traffic) already expressed concerns about how checks would take place because it is clear that many persons would not pay their insurance prior to paying their road tax. A source from the Police Department said that the police does not have access to a database that has information on all vehicles that are registered and insured on the island. "The police would need to have a database from the insurance companies with all vehicles that are registered on the island and with which insurance company they are insured. Having access to such a database would make the police work much easier."
SMN News contacted the President of the Insurance Association Eric Ellis for his views on the new procedures that government intends to introduce. Ellis said that the insurance companies and Associations had no idea that vehicle owners could pay their road tax online. Ellis also said he would have to confer with the members of the insurance association prior to going public with the hindrance the new rules would have on insurance companies.