Dear Editor,
I read the letter to you Unacceptable treatment of taxpayers. Every time I read these kinds of letters it obliges me to go back to what my father used to say. Which is, "It is not a problem to copy the good thing". Being a police officer, one is automatically involved in the control of the payment of motor vehicle tax. I retired in 2006 and long before that I had suggested to the Receiver to stagger the sale of the number plates using the alphabet. There are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, there are five working days in the week. Also, there are not the same amount of last names starting with every letter, so this will have to be taken into account when dividing the number of motor vehicles per letter per day. Twenty-six, possibly twenty-seven because of the IJ, will have to be divided in 5 days.
For instance, A,B,C,D, and E, on Mondays, on Tuesdays, F,G, H, I, and J. On Wednesdays, because of the possible IJ, K, L M, N, and O. On Thursdays, P, Q, R,S, T, U and on Fridays, V, W,X Y Z. This can be repeated according to the deadline for payment. A similar system can be adopted according to the Letters in front of the number on the number plate. Again, there are not the same number of numbers in every category, so this also will have to be divided and made known. If possible, one or two Saturdays only for senior citizens.
Only two numbers per person, no matter if they have more than two motor vehicles.
In some countries, expiration dates of certain documents are set on birthdates, or instance drivers licences. It will be financial suicide to change the motor vehicle tax paying system, because of the lack of adequate control which remains by the motor vehicle tax department, starting with the Finance Minister. The yearly changing of the number plate is in my view the easiest way to control the taxes, as long as government does its due diligence. Get the number plates on time, maintain the latest stipulated date for payment and start the controls on time.
What we are seeing here is lackadaisical governing. And I am not hearing any reasonable explanation for this nonchalance. I spoke to a cousin of mine in Curaçao who told me that Curaçao gets their number plates from China, and that they do not have a problem with the plates not arriving on time.
When I was about to buy my first car as a young man of 21 years, my father told me, "Buying a car is one thing, keeping it running is the next. To buy it is one payment, to maintain it is a monthly and yearly debt." It was so then and it is still so now. If you cannot afford to maintain it, do not buy it. I expect to hear "Russell could say what he wants, but he doesn't have to struggle like us, and to that I say for the umpteenth time. What we should do is to demand from government to regulate public transportation, so that every working person should be able to get to the closest proximity of their job, without having to rely on lifts and gypsies. When you put yourself in debt to get a car which you cannot afford, and the next problem becomes the house rent.
Those same Dutch have been the world’s known number-one experts on infrastructure and public transportation. Where is the good will to help regulate? I always say with every change there is a transition period. The same can be done when regulating public transportation.
With government everything should be done for all the people and not a select few. Sint Maarten roads cannot accommodate many more motor vehicles, and with the constant addition of tour buses and heavy equipment within two years we will be so congested that the Editor will be receiving not so nice letters. I have always said that I dread those four words "I told you so". Please let us avoid them.
The Justice Minister is gradually but steadily showing her willingness to do the right thing. All we need now is for the TEATT Minister and the Finance Minister to do their part and we can get the ball rolling. Consistently there are tourists (number plate collectors) who come to the island looking for Sint Maarten number plates.
Everybody is not obliged to have a car, but everybody has to eat. We need drastic price control in all those supermarkets.
Russell A. Simmons