PHILIPSBURG:--- Finance Minister Martin Hassink told reporters on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that he dispatched a letter to the Parliament of St. Maarten addressing the profit tax matters involving the former owner of the American University of the Caribbean (AUC). Minister Hassink did not divulge the contents of the letter he sent to Parliament but said he informed the Members of Parliament that they need to be discreet when it comes to Government financing and private entities.
SMN News asked the Minister of Finance what has he done since taking office to secure the over 100 million guilders that the former owner of AUC still owed the government of St. Maarten after the sale of AUC. The Minister said that since he took office he could not find any documentation on what the former Minister did when he was in office to resolve the AUC issue. He said that the consultant (law firm) informed him that there were some discussions with the former Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt but he could not find any documents to support the discussions that were held. He indicated that the former owner of AUC has decided to proceed with a court litigation which might take place before the end of the year. Hassink further stated that he sent a letter to the consultant requesting that they meet to further discuss the matter but to date he did not get any response. When asked when he sent the letter, he said sometime in July 2013.
It should be noted that if the current Minister wanted to know or have documents pertaining to the AUC profit tax scandal he could have checked with the tax department because the former Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt declared the agreement AUC had with government null and void before leaving office. That agreement can be found at the tax office, furthermore, AUC according to information provided to SMN News did not provide accurate information to the tax department in order for them to make the correct assessment on how much monies AUC had to turn over to government after the sale of the property.
Kingdom Council waiting on CFT Assessment of 2013 Budget.
The Finance Minister also said he believes this is last time he would have to address matters regarding the 2013 budget, since the budget amendments have been approved and signed off by the Governor of St. Maarten.
Minister Hassink said that the CFT had informed the Kingdom Council to issue an instruction to St. Maarten regarding its budget but that did not take place as yet neither has the Kingdom Council said what they will do or not do. Minister Hassink said the Kingdom Council has decided to wait on the assessment of the CFT. The approved budget and its amendments which were signed off by the Governor of St. Maarten was sent to the CFT for their approval. To date the CFT did not say if the 2013 budget that was approved in September 2013 is to their satisfaction and if they would or would not approve it.
Minister Hassink further explained that his Ministry is busy working on the 2014 budget which should be completed and ready by the end of this year. The Finance Minister said that he is not very happy with the 2014 budget which they started to work very late on because of the 2013 budget. He said right now the other Ministries are looking at figures for each Ministry and they have to get back to the Ministry of Finance to complete the budget of 2014.
Finance Minister Wants SOAB to Investigate Road Tax Payments.
Minister of Finance Martin Hassink also reported on Wednesday that a substantial amount of persons did not pay their road taxes for this year. When SMN News asked the Minister what exactly he meant by substantial if he has a ball park figure as to how much monies government did not collect on road tax sales, the Minister said there is about one million guilders outstanding and he has decided to ask SOAB to conduct an investigation in order for him to get a clearer picture. The Finance Minister said that he also asked SOAB to give him some advice as to how they believe he should proceed in collecting the monies road users owe government and what other measures government should implement for 2014. The Minister also indicated that he believes that more road controls must be done to catch delinquent car owners but that he said is not the ultimate solution. Minister Hassink said he does not believe that police has to displace themselves to collect taxes but they do have an obligation to do more controls. He further explained that the number plates for 2013 have been ordered and sale of the new number plates should begin as early as January 2014.
