Civil servants will be getting vacation pay again in June after a two-year suspension to comply with requirements for liquidity support from the Netherlands needed to get through the COVID-19 crisis. Intention is to end the entire related 12.5% cut in financial benefits for the (semi)public sector, but all three Dutch Caribbean countries disagree with certain new conditions for such set by the Kingdom Council of Ministers in The Hague.
These will now be discussed further with State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen, but in the meantime St. Maarten has found a temporary solution to fund the 6% allowance next month. That’s good news for those directly involved as well as the economy in general.
Any increase – no matter how small – of people’s purchasing power will undoubtedly be welcomed by the local business community and their employees particularly with the current rise in prices. As pointed out, this money was often not used for holidays abroad but rather to cover extra expenses such as school uniforms and supplies ahead of every academic year.
Government has understandably also been working on generating more earnings. For example, casinos were approached about their tax debts and reportedly indicated willingness to settle these.
Enhancing fiscal compliance, if done in a responsible and reasonable manner, is one way to prevent having to ask for additional loans from the Netherlands without taking far-reaching steps which could prove counterproductive and “upset the applecart” under these exceptional circumstances. Let’s – for argument’s sake – say only half the outstanding amounts can be collected this way. That would still be a whole lot better than nothing – right?
