Casinos start to pony up

GREAT BAY – “I promised some months ago in parliament not to raise the taxes on car license plates,” Minister of Finance Richard Gibson said yesterday. Based on legislation that has been put in place an agreement was made with the receiver to go after casino fees. “The receiver collected 2 million guilders in arrears,” the minister said. In October the receiver will collect another 650,000 and from there on every month 195,000.

The minister noted that the documentation for the legislation that makes the collection of these fees possible disappeared three times. “I was relentless,” he said about his pursuit of the legislation. “This is the proof that if you collect outstanding taxes there is no need to take the easy way out by raising other taxes.”