CUPECOY:--- Questions are now being raised as to who made a deal with the former owners of the AUC (Medical School) on the 34.5% profit tax they were supposed to pay the Government of St. Maarten when they sold AUC to DeVry. According to information SMN News obtained, the former owners of AUC sold the establishment for $235 million dollars and they were supposed to pay the government of St. Maarten 34.5% of that amount which would have been USD 81,075,000. However, members of the former government UP/DP/Illidge government made some sort of deal with the former AUC owners and they only paid 10% (USD 23,500,000) of what they were supposed to pay the government of St. Maarten. Based on calculations, AUC still has to pay USD 57,575,000 on the profit tax but that was not done up to when the NA/DP/I-3 coalition government fell.
According to reliable sources, AUC received a ten year tax holiday from the Government of St. Maarten when they first opened the school and as soon as that period ended they sold AUC to DeVry.
The sources said that former Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt was trying to get the former owners of AUC to pay the balance of the profit tax they did not pay to the Government of St. Maarten. SMN News learnt that Tuitt was willing to make an out of court settlement with the former owners of AUC because he told them that if they did not pay up the monies they owed government he would have taken them to court. The source said based on the calculations if the former owners of AUC had paid the USD 57,575,000 they owed the government of St. Maarten then St. Maarten would have had a deficit free budget for at least four years.
It is also understood that since Tuitt left office the negotiations with the former owners of AUC fell through the cracks because it's the same government that made some sort of deal with the former owners of AUC that are back in office.
It is clear St. Maarten is facing some severe budget cuts, civil servants are still waiting for their COLA payments while the UP/DP government has decided to allow shrewd businessmen to escape their tax obligations.
