Richardson will not
support 2008 budget
PHILIPSBURG--Finance Commissioner Roy Marlin has to explain to the people of St. Maarten where he will get the money for the draft 2008 budget, which shows an increase of almost NAf. 1 million compared to 2007.
“He will have to tell the people that the money will come from an increased Turnover Tax (TOT) and increase in GEBE fees,” National Alliance (NA) Councilman Frans Richardson said Friday.
He was reacting to Marlin’s criticisms of remarks he had made earlier about the draft 2008 budget.
Richardson said he had heard Marlin state that if the Central Government did not approve a one per cent TOT increase, organisations such as I Can Foundation would suffer.
“He is threatening, but I will not support this budget, because it’s a dual taxation on the people that must be taken away. Government increased the minimum wage last year, only to take it away this year by increasing the TOT,” Richardson told The Daily Herald Friday.
Referring to Marlin’s comments about his making “Houdini calculations” on the budgeted income from GEBE fees, Richardson said it was Marlin who was behaving like Houdini.
“He has to tell the truth. The figures are right there in the budget. Budgeted revenues of GEBE fees are calculated at NAf. 4 million and it states that this amount is based on the 17,000 households on the island paying NAf. 20 per month, amounting to NAf. 4,080,000 per year. So who is Houdini now?” he said.
Richardson also referred to Marlin’s statements that the NA, as part of the Central Government, should make sure that St. Maarten Medical Center and children’s homes such as those of MPO and I Can Foundation received the proper attention.
“It was the NA that in 2007 approved a budget with more than NAf. 8 million for SMMC, based on a budget agreement with the Social Insurance Bank SVB, and for 2008 approved a budget of more than NAf. 11 million.”
Richardson pointed out that the problems between SMMC and SVB dated back to long before NA was part of the Central Government and that neither the Commissioner nor his government had done anything to solve the problem.
“But back then we did not bash the coalition about it. It’s the same with the more than 20 extra policemen for St. Maarten. It’s not because of the DP government that they are here, but it’s because the NA discusses real St. Maarten problems within the coalition.”
Richardson said finally that he would not sit in the opposition and thank the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice for the good job they had been doing. “I think the Commissioner has to talk to his Member of Parliament, because he went missing when voting on the budget and did not vote in favour of or against the budget. The NA champions the cause of St. Maarten in government through coalition meetings.”
And, referring to the Commissioner’s statement that he had attended the recent Central Committee meeting for only two hours, Richardson hit back, saying that what the commissioner should have said was that if it hadn’t been for the National Alliance, there would have been no quorum for the Central Committee meeting on the draft 2008 budget.
