SXMElections.com

Dp Puts Fatca Back On The Agenda

St. Maarten News – It is not the first time that the faction of the Democratic Party wants to discuss the Fatca – the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – and its consequences for local businesses and banks (see related story on page 3). In February 2013, there was a similar request by then MPs Roy Marlin and Leroy de Weever Read more

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Vks Trains This Weekend

St. Maarten News – The Voluntary Corps of St. Maarten (VKS) will have a bivouac that begins this Friday at 4 p.m. and ends on Sunday at 3 p.m. On Friday, the VKS will be camping on the Emilio Wilson Estate and on Saturday the men will move to the Cay Bay area. On all three days, the VKS will be training on the road.

VKS-Commander Anthony Rogers< Read more

Debating Competition Begins On Thursday

St. Maarten News – The Hyacinth Richardson Educational Awareness Foundation hosts the 44th annual Leeward Islands Debating Competition (LIDC) at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort from Thursday until Sunday.

The debating teams are from Antigua, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla and of course St Read more

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Dp Wants Meeting About Us Tax Compliance Act

St. Maarten News: The Democratic Party faction in parliament has requested the Finance Committee of Parliament to examine and discuss the execution of the FATCA by the local banks on St. Maarten.

To this end, the DP has proposed that the Bankers Association be invited to apprise parliament of their experiences with this Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which is a United States law that introduces a “reporting regime for financial institutions with respect to certain accounts”.

Under this law, Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs), such as banks are required to report about certain foreign financial accounts and offshore assets of US taxpayers. 

Another way to ensure compliance with the FATCA in foreign jurisdictions, has been with the so-called Intergovernmental Agreements.

“If a jurisdiction enters into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to implement FATCA, the reporting and other compliance burdens on the financial institutions in the jurisdiction may be simplified Read more

Opinion: Politician Tears Of The Crocodile Variety

To see former Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte close to tears at the end of his trial in Curacao seems completely out of character. But there it is: even the outwardly toughest nut will crack sooner or later.

Schotte’s tears are of course of the crocodile variety. To say at the end of proceedings where he has steadfastly refused to answer any question something like, “Punish me, but not my wife,” is coming a bit late in the day.

Why did Schotte not won up to what he has been accused off? After all, his “punish me” remark is the clearest indication so far that Schotte is at least guilty of something Read more

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Opinion: The Spirit Of Giving

Sometimes, initiatives that may have started with the best of intentions are raising eyebrows. Such is the case with the “giving back to the community” initiative of parliamentarian Leona Marlin-Romeo – and we’d like to place this in the context of 2016 – an election year.

We are all familiar with the vote buying scandal dating back to 2010 when a couple of police officers sold their vote for $300 a pop to the United People’s party Read more

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“Moment Of Immense Pride” Dp Says About Keacy Carty

St. Maarten News – “It was an immense moment of pride for all who came out to welcome our young sports hero Keacy Carty back home on Wednesday evening. The story of his performance during the finals of the  U19 World Cup Cricket cannot be retold often enough,” the Democratic Party said in a press release. 

The party joined the rest of St. Maarten in congratulating Keacy and his parents, Keith and Angela.

“Keacy’s accomplishment is the coronation of years of hard work, put in by the young athlete himself and all those persons who nurtured and continue to nurture the sport of cricket on St Read more

Keacy Carty Gets A Fitting Hero’S Welcome

St. Maarten News – After arriving on the ATR-72, to the special reception in the VIP Hall at the Princess Juliana International Airport followed by a tremendous greeting in the arrival hall and finally driven away in an Audi A8 in a mini motorcade has marked the turning point in the life of Keacy Carty, a national hero.

Carty who was propelled into the spotlight after playing the leading role for the West Indies U-19 team that defeated India in the ICC U-19 World Cup finals is certainly the man of the moment at home as well as other parts of the cricketing world

Hundreds of cricket supporters as well as family members and fans loyal to the game of cricket made a special effort to be a part of a historic moment as they anxiously awaited his presence in the arrival hall at the PJIA.

Not even Carty could have imagined himself practically rubbing shoulders with high ranking ministers of the government including Prime Minister William Marlin when he was ushered into the VIP Hall shortly after his arrival shortly after 8 p.m Read more

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Armand Meda Writes: Running Sewage And Mosquitoes

Dear Editor,

You’ve got to give honor to whom honor is due. The Honorable Minister Emil Lee stepped out from the comfort zones of his air conditioned office and upscale neighborhoods and visited one of the homes in Middle Region that has been experiencing hell when it comes to running sewage and mosquitoes. Though I applaud his visit to that one location, I am curious as to what steps are being taken or even considered to bring an end to that deplorable situation Read more

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New St. Maarten Hospital Construction To Begin In Third Quarter

SZV receives bids from engineering companies

St. Maarten News – Social insurance agency SZV received bids from four engineering companies to develop terms of reference for the new hospital. SZV says that construction could begin in the third quarter of this year and that the new facility would be ready in 2019.

Lievense, Independent Consulting Engineers (ICE), Arcadis and Royal HaskoningDHV have submitted bids and SZV accepted them on Monday for consideration.

Interim SZV-director Glen Carty thanked Henk de Zeeuw, managing director of KPMG for his help with the process so far Read more

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Minister Jacobs Wants To Welcome Keacy Carty Back Home In Style

St. Maarten News – Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Silveria Jacobs extends congratulations  on behalf of the government and the entire community to Keacy Carty and the West Indies U19 team on the West Indies win in the U19 World Cup Cricket finals Sunday morning in Bangladesh.

“The team surpassed expectations by reaching the finals, defeating the home team of Bangladesh on Thursday.  They faced favorite India in the finals but were able to secure the win with 52 runs not out batted in by our very own St Read more

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Girls Night Out Is Becoming Bigger And Bigger

The St. Maarten Girls Night Out, organized by Marketing Solutions, expects to draw an even bigger crowd than it did last year. The event will, take place on May 28, but there is no decision about the venue yet.

“This idea of St. Maarten Girls Night Out was an idea of my youngest in 2013 because she recognized that women in the communities hardly have the time to get out and have fun,” said organizer Bernadette Davis Read more

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Lucky Stables/Discovery Farm Partners With Powerful You Emotional Coaching

Children of the Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School will attend emotional coaching classes at the Discovery Farm. Photo Today / Hilbert Haar

St. Maarten News – In their search to provide a wider range of experiences to children facing behavioral challenges, Lucky Stables/Discovery Farm’s Alexandra Halley-van Luijken and Powerful You Myriam Haar entered an innovative partnership in October of last year.

“The purpose of their association is to complement the emotional aspect of Myriam’s coaching with Alexandra’s expertise in psychology,’ the partners said in a press statement Read more

Ambassador Videtic Reveals Plaque In Middle Region

St. Maarten News – The European Union and Sint Maarten have over the years enjoyed cooperation in a number of development areas. The Head of the delegation of the European Union to Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories, Ambassador Jernej Videtic, was on Sint Maarten earlier this week to get a firsthand update on the progress of the EU funded programs.

Ambassador Videtic discussed with Prime Minister William Marlin the EU’s development assistance programs in Sint Maarten and the Caribbean OCTs regional program Read more

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Dock Maarten: Investigate Harbor Director Mingo

St. Maarten News – Brian Deher, Managing Director of Dock Maarten NV, delivered a presentation to the Council of Ministers last Thursday, where he officially requested that government initiate a thorough investigation into the many issues that surround the Harbour Group of Companies, specifically the management decisions taken by CEO Mark Mingo and his aggressive and – taking into account the history of the case – incomprehensible stance against Dock Maarten’s Marina expansion project.

Today broke the story about the conflict between Dock Maarten and the harbor group of companies in an interview with Brian Deher that appeared on our front page on Friday, January 22.

“During Mr Read more

Dutch-French St. Martin Cooperation To Boost Healthcare Service

St. Maarten News – Last week Minister Emil Lee (Public Health) initiated a stepped up level of cooperation between the Dutch and French sides of the island with regards to health care. “As St. Maarten continues with its plans for the development of a new hospital, determining the level of cooperation between the Dutch and French sides is a critical element of our development strategy,” Minister Lee states.

“Our hope is that instead of two independent hospitals, struggling to provide quality care in a sustainable manner, that we synchronize our strategies.”

A formal cooperation agreement has existed since 2014 and is known as the Observatory St Read more

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Dollarization Would Free Up 250 Million For Investments

St. Maarten News – Dutch preparedness to assist St. Maarten with the strengthening of the tax inspectorate went only that far and dollarization would free up 250 million guilders for capital investments, Finance Minister Richard Gibson said yesterday during the meeting of the central committee of parliament about the handling of the draft 2016 budget.

The minister reached an initial agreement about the support during his first visit to the Netherlands last year, but soon after it turned out that the Netherlands demanded €1.5 million in compensation for travel and housing expenses Read more

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Proposal Mp Tamara Leonard (Up): Drastic Cut In Political Salaries And Pensions

St. Maarten News: MP Tamara Leonard is the second MP in Country St. Maarten’s history to propose a pay-cut for parliamentarians. On January 16, 2014, former DP-MP Roy Marlin submitted a motion to cut salaries by 12 percent, after the draft budget showed that all members of the Council of Ministers had decreased their remuneration by 30,000 guilders for that year.

Marlin’s motion failed, because none of the other fourteen Members of Parliament supported it Read more

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Tony Harris Explores Celebrity-Marketing For St. Maarten

From left: Roddy Heyliger, Bernard Hunt, Tony Harris and Arthur Lugisse. Photo contributed

St. Maarten News: Under the umbrella of the Tallahassee-St. Maarten Foundation and in conjunction with photographer Hassan Kareem, Emmy award winning journalist and former CNN and Al Jazeera television broadcaster Tony Harris, arrived on the island over the weekend to explore marketing the destination to celebrities.

Tony Harris worked with CNN for six-years out of their headquarters in Atlanta, where he hosted CNN Newsroom for three years Read more

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Finance Minister Gibson: “Very Frugal Budget With Room For Expansion”

St. Maarten News:  The government intends to sell the new administration building on Pond Island for around 50 million guilders to social insurance agency SZV. With the building, SZV will also acquire the adjacent terrain of more than 15,000 square meters and the parking lot that borders on the TelEm property of 5,000 square meters. A parcel of land bordering on this parking lot of 1,800 square meters is also part of the deal. This appears from the explanatory notes with the draft 2016 budget that Governor Holiday submitted to the parliament on Monday.

In the preface, Finance Minister Richard Gibson Sr Read more

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Plasterk About Dispute Regulation “Kingdom Cannot Deviate From Decisions, Unless …”

St. Maarten News:  The Kingdom Council of Ministers cannot deviate from an advice issued by a dispute regulator, unless such a deviation is properly motivated,” Kingdom Relations Minister Ronald Plasterk said at a press conference yesterday at the end of his visit to St. Maarten. With this statement, Plasterk seems to come back from his earlier stance that the Kingdom Council of Ministers should always have the last word in disputes between the countries in the kingdom.

The only issue that separates Plasterk and the Caribbean autonomous countries St Read more

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Casinos Major Contributors To Increased State Revenue

St. Maarten News: The government projects an increase in state revenue of 3.1 percent this year compared to (still budgeted) 2015-revenue of 445 million guilders. The real revenue in 2014 was 422 million, but this year the government expects to pull in 458.9 million.

Most of this income stems from taxes – 363.8 million, but that is not where the increase comes from, since the budgeted tax-revenue in 2015 was slightly higher at 364.8 million. In 2014, tax-revenue was 352.4 million.

The bulk of the increase has to come from the casinos Read more

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Minister Lee Wants Study Unemployment Insurance

St. Maarten News: Minister Emil Lee (Public Health, Social Development and Labor) intends to merge the social services and the labor department to promote integral services.” This appears from the explanatory notes with the draft 2016 budget.

The ministry will conduct a feasibility study into unemployment insurance. “The jobless employee currently does not enjoy benefits linked to his unemployment Read more

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Know Your Political History For All Secondary Schools

The legacy of Edgar Lynch

St. Maarten News – The book Know Your Political History by Edgar H. Lynch, and co-authored with his brother Julian, will be distributed to all secondary schools and the University of St. Martin in memory of the fifth anniversary of the passing of Edgar Lynch.

“In commemoration of his birthday and the fifth anniversary of the demise of my late husband Edgar H Read more

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