That the taskforce established to collect outstanding monies for the national treasury had some success (see related story) might not be welcomed by certain parties directly involved, but spells good news for the country. Rather than introducing new taxes or raising existing ones, ensuring an adequate level of fiscal compliance ought to be top priority.
Especially under present socioeconomic conditions, increasing the tax burden of law-abiding citizens and companies before first going after those who aren’t is morally wrong. Moreover, allowing widespread evasion creates an unlevel playing field in the local business community and thus promotes unfair competition with all possible consequences.
It’s not entirely the fault of offenders, mind you, as government’s collection efforts at times leave lot to be desired and some casinos said they never even received an invoice. Although Finance Minister Ardwell Irion disagrees with the latter argument and maintains licence-holders should know their related obligations, this circumstance was still considered.
Important is that current payments are made while gradually eliminating the backlog, otherwise it becomes an endless story. The reasonable capacity to cover arrears must always be looked at with any arrangement made so it does not prove counterproductive.
A team working on overdue long land lease (“erfpacht”) fees reportedly collected 1.2 million Netherlands Antillean guiders up to now. Here too, it was often unclear to property owners exactly what, when and to whom they were supposed to pay.
That is not a valid excuse, mind you, as the minister correctly pointed out, because people are expected to be aware of the law. Nevertheless, showing a bit of leniency where appropriate would seem to make sense, along with improving apparently non-existent or faulty billing processes.
