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The Daily Herald writes that the Dutch Government has promised to supply the separate tax and premium revenues generated on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, but only one time. The figures will be released early next year, which is too late to comply with Statia’s request to do so before the referendum.
Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk informed the Executive Councils of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, as well as the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Friday that the Dutch Government this one time will comply with the islands’ request to provide information on the tax and premium revenues per individual island.
The information is also being made available in light of the evaluation of the new constitutional status of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba as public entities of the Netherlands. A one-time, global breakdown of the total expenditures of the individual islands will be supplied to “complete the picture,” stated Plasterk in his letter.
The information, which will include statistical data of the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS), is currently being gathered by the Dutch Ministry of Finance and various departments, and should be supplied in the first quarter of 2015. The information will cover one calendar year. It was not stated which year that would be.Plasterk stated that he could not comply with the request of Statia’s Government of December 2, to be informed about all revenues from taxes and premiums collected on the island in 2011, 2012 and 2013 before December 10 in anticipation of the referendum one week later.
The splitting up of the tax and premium revenues and expenditures per island will have a somewhat “global character” because the Caribbean Netherlands Tax Office and the various departments don’t register the revenues and expenditures per island, explained Plasterk, who added that this was also not done in the case of municipalities and provinces in the Netherlands.
The minister stated that the total expenditures of the Dutch Government on behalf of the three Caribbean Netherlands islands amounted to more than 280 million euros in 2014. The total tax and premium revenues collected on the islands over this year stands at about 110 million euros.Based on the available data and initial calculations, this ratio of expenditures and revenues of the Dutch Government, 2.5 to 1 is expected not to substantially deviate for St. Eustatius, stated Plasterk. “The expenditures in any case will be much higher than the tax and premium revenues,” he stated.
The governments of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have asked the Dutch Government several times to supply information on the tax and premium revenues per island. So far this information had not been given, because it was not available, stated Plasterk.