Philipsburg:--- Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt told reporters on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that the Minister of Finance of the Netherlands and his department heads refused to meet with him during his visit to the Netherlands to deal with some pertinent issues affecting St. Maarten. Minister Tuitt said that even though the meetings were all scheduled prior to his departure, the Finance Minister chose to cancel the meetings with last minute notice. Tuitt said he intends to write a letter to the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands and the Kingdom Council to inform them of the Minister's behavior. Tuitt said one of the main reasons he traveled to the Netherlands was to try and improve communication between St. Maarten and the Netherlands.
Tuitt termed the Minister's actions as disrespectful, therefore he will be sending a letter to the first chamber and the other relevant partners that need to be informed. Tuitt said the TOT problem was created by the Netherlands because they implemented a new tax system on the BES islands. TOT is an item that has been implemented on all goods on St. Maarten and this tax was implemented years now. The TOT was also implemented on Saba and St. Eustatius. However, the Dutch changed their tax system and implemented the BTY. "This is a sales tax which works two sides, one it is implemented on imported goods and also when goods are sold." Tuitt said that the Minister wants St. Maarten to subsidize the tax they implemented and that in his view is not logical.
Tuitt said he met with the "vaste kamercommissie" whom he gave an overview of St. Maarten, especially when it comes to the island having had to develop several departments after St. Maarten obtained its country status. Tuitt said he also informed this committee how it was in getting the Netherlands to provide St. Maarten with technical assistance. Tuitt said he also gave the committee members an overview of St. Maarten's financial situation including the writing off of St. Maarten's debts and the new tax system that is envisioned by the government of St. Maarten. Tuitt said he expounded on St. Maarten's financial situation because St. Maarten is of the opinion that information was mis-communicated to the Netherlands, therefore he tried to clarify the situation by making it a bit more real. Tuitt said the CFT in their communications to the Netherlands said that St. Maarten could have a big financial "liquidity" problem but he disagrees with the CFT. He said that the government of St. Maarten is not concealing information, they have a buffer of 46 million guilders and the island managed to finance all the capital projects during the past two years to the tune of 38 million guilders. He said when the loan St. Maarten is working on currently is approved they will get back the 38 million guilders which would then raise the buffer to 80 million guilders. Tuitt said some of that money will be used to pay off creditors which will in turn increase cash flow in the community. The Finance Minister said in his view St. Maarten is still reasonably solid, he said he also informed the committee that the CFT approved the 2013 budget which will soon reach parliament for their approval. Another topic that they discussed was the debt relief and St. Maarten remains steadfast on the agreements that were made prior to St. Maarten obtaining its country status, therefore the goal of the debt relief was not attained for St. Maarten. Tuitt said Holland's argument is that they budgeted for the debt relief for St. Maarten in 2010 and there is no account in their hands showing that there is money on it that was intended for the debt relief that was not used. Tuitt said he met with the Secretary General of Finance and they also discussed certain items. He said in that meeting he explained how the TOT is levied on St. Maarten.
Tuitt said the trip to the Netherlands had a positive side and it also had a negative side, explaining the negative side Tuitt said they requested meetings with the Minister of Finance, the State Secretary of Finance, and the Secretary General of Finance all of which were scheduled. Tuitt said these meetings were cancelled and the Minister also cancelled meetings with certain departments in the Finance Ministry. Tuitt said he later found out that the Minister of Finance gave a decree "instruction" to his departments not to share any information with St. Maarten and its Finance Minister. Tuitt said he understood that the issue with the TOT between St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius should be solved before any meetings could take place.
The Finance Minister said he managed to meet an organization called the CAOP who has agreed to visit St. Maarten for three days to conduct a study on how St. Maarten should move forward with indexing civil servants' salaries annually. The CAOP will meet with the various stakeholders and they will also meet with the GOA and the unions after which they will draft a report for St. Maarten which the new country would use as a basis for its indexation of salaries. Tuitt further explained that the CAOP has informed him that no other country in the world is using the COLA system anymore simply because it is outdated. Tuitt said he also met with Minister Ronald Plasterk who made a commitment that the issues will be solved on a technical level. He said a technical group will be established which would include two persons from the Netherlands and two from St. Maarten. "This group will be commissioned to work on a technical level and to find solutions. This committee will then write some reports which will be sent to the Ministers and political leaders prior to them holding a meeting on a political level."
The Minister also confirmed to SMN News that the government of St. Maarten is working on a new structure for the Clem Labega paid parking lot. The Minister said wherever there is money involved checks and balances have to take place and currently they are working on restructuring the checks and balances on the revenues collected on a daily basis from the parking lot.
