PHILIPSBURG — Eight years ago, financial expert Emilio Kalmera pointed out how the government abuses the turnover tax-system by applying this levy twice to the price of gasoline and diesel: once to the wholesale price and after that to the consumer price. This system is still in place, though Kalmera stated at the time that the government does not understand its own tax legislation. ”You can see how the government abuses the turnover tax as if it is a value added tax. Lord, have mercy.” The tax system assumes that entrepreneurs pay turnover tax to the government. They are not…
Author: The Publisher
New initiative launched to introduce opportunities in avionics to local girls. PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Women in Aviation International (WAI) Girls in Aviation Day is a new collaborative effort by WAI and Member of Parliament (MP) Ludmila De Weever. The initiative is one that focuses on exposing young girls to career opportunities available in the aviation field; one that is predominantly male-driven. The event was first hosted in 2015 and has remained annual; growing every year since its inception. St. Maarten is now added to the list of participating countries. MP De Weever wishes to extend a special thanks to…
PHILIPSBURG — The Kingdom Council of Ministers decides next Friday, June 24, whether St. Maarten gets permission to terminate the 12.5 percent pay-cut for civil servants. For a positive outcome, the government has to abide by eight conditions. So far, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs has only spoken publicly about three of the eight conditions and MP Sarah Wescot-Williams (United Democrats) is the only one who has described them in a press release. According to that release, St, Maarten has to finance the effects of lifting the pay-cut from its own budget. The 25 percent cut for ministers and parliamentarians has…
PHILIPSBURG — The essence of the problems with government-owned companies is “political meddling,” Terrance Rey, the publisher of StMaartenNews.com recently said on Wendell Moore’s radio program People’s Voice. “No matter who gets appointed to these companies, they will always have to battle political interference. There is no government-owned company in St. Maarten where this has not taken place – from the airport and the harbor to Telem and GEBE.” Rey suggested that the Corporate Governance Council ought to get a role in guiding the Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of these companies. “And the moment politicians interfere with their work, they…
PHILIPSBURG — The government is not very good at managing the money it has at its disposal to run the country. This becomes clear once more from the General Audit’s Chamber audit of the country’s 2020 financial statements. On a balance sheet of a bit more than 2.3 billion guilders, the Chamber identified 992 million, or 42 percent, as “uncertain.” The government’s accounting bureau SOAB arrived at an even higher number of “identified uncertainties”: 1.6 billion guilders, more than half of the total balance sheet. The Audit Chamber points out that this amount includes items for which the scope cannot…
St. Peters – A group of concerned residents in the St. Peters community met on Thursday evening June 9th, with residents of the community, to discuss establishing a Community Council. The district has been missing out on aid in time of disaster due to a lack of proper representation. A recognized Community Council could assist residents of St. Peters in times of disaster with support from NGO’s, the Government and other funding agencies. The concerned St. Peters group includes: Ashma Berkel, Eva Williams, Clifton Wilson, Aramis Halley, Jr., Beatrice George and Reginald Richardson – The group was supported by Ms.…
~ Innovative and financially sound businesses is key to economic recovery and growth ~ GREAT BAY, St. Maarten — In the past five (5) years, St. Maarten has seen unprecedented challenges. From the devastation of Hurricane Irma to the ongoing pandemic, the community has seen severe socioeconomic challenges. As a learning organization, the Ministry of Finance strives to develop its staff and community through education in areas of finance and innovation as it is critical to economic resilience and development, both personally and for the nation. For this reason, the Ministry has helped to steer a variety of programs such…
THE HAGUE — Curacao’s former Minister of Finance George Jamaloodin’s conviction to 30 years of imprisonment for ordering the murder of Pueblo Soberano-leader Helmin Wiels on May 5, 2013, has become irrevocable, after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal in cassation on June 7. Jamaloodin’s attorney R.J. Baumgardt’s claimed that his client’s presumption of innocence had been violated, but the Supreme Court disagreed. In July 2018, the Common Court of Justice sentenced Burney ‘Nini’ Fonseca to 26 years of imprisonment for playing the role of ‘murder-broker’ as the man who accepted money from Jamaloodin to organize the murder of Helmin…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Romou says it goes without saying how extremely proud and elated she is about hearing the news that a young St. Maartener namely Kyeisha Laurence has been accepted to the prestigious Harvard Medical School. MP Romou explained that as she has dedicated most of her life to youth advocacy and having been actively involved with guiding, mentoring and shaping our youth on St. Maarten, she feels obligated to highlight and congratulate Kyeisha who was also a participant a couple of times in the Interscholastic idol competition which MP Romou organizes. Kyeisha she explained moved to the United…
Land grabLiterally anything is possible in St. Maarten. This time my column is about an example of how one can legally become the owner of a piece of land in an illegal way and – fortunately – what someone can do about it.Lawyer and Acting Governor Reynold Groeneveldt has written an instructive article about ‘prescriptive rights’. In that article, Mr. Groeneveldt gives a description of ‘prescriptive rights’.I quote and translate the description using Google Translate as follows. By means of the procedure of ‘prescriptive rights’ one can become the owner of part of movable and/or immovable property. Ownership can be…
