PHILIPSBURG--The United People's (UP) party submitted to Parliament a draft initiative law to amend the timeshare guest accommodation fee ordinance, on Tuesday.
The change should generate more than US $1 million for government's coffers, according to UP. The additional funds can be used to reduce school fees and aid in destination promotion.
The change to this indirect tax aims to increase the revenue collected by government from the timeshare industry from a weekly fee of US $50 to a daily fee of US $10. The increase will see fees paid for a week (seven days) increase to US $70.
The draft will be forwarded to the Advisory Council for perusal, as the process to get it approved starts.
UP Member of Parliament (MP) Jules James explained at a press conference in Parliament House Tuesday that the US $50 weekly timeshare guest accommodation fee had been levied since 1999. The timeshare sector has changed significantly over the past decade, with timeshare stays becoming more flexible.
At times, timeshare owners and guests are spending less than a week or just over a week, for example. In both of those cases, government loses revenue, because for any stay less than a week, the weekly US $50 fee is not applicable and the same week fee is applied to stays up to 13 days.
James said timeshare stakeholders would also be consulted on the pending changes, but no snags were anticipated as an adjustment to the accommodation fee had been on the table since 2003. An adjustment was discussed by the then Island Council with St. Maarten Timeshare Association, on which James has served as president in the past.
The MP said the pending increase could be taken into consideration by Finance Minister Roland Tuitt in preparing the 2013 draft budget. The timing of the submission will also give resorts time to inform international exchange partners Interval International and Resort Condominiums International (RCI).
The change to the way the accommodation fee is levied will also allow the Ministry of Finance "to better audit" the timeshare resorts based on room nights booked.
Former UP coalition partners the Democratic Party (DP) and independent MP Patrick Illidge had been told in the past about the draft initiative law, although not in detail, said James. He had stated during the 2012 budget debate in May that UP was working on this legislation change.
Acting UP fraction leader MP Silvia Meyers-Olivacce said the submission of the initiative law, the first for her party, showed that UP is a strong team that continues to work together "to ease the burden of the common man" with this "indirect tax."
Fellow MP Johan Leonard (UP) said several other initiative laws would be tabled in Parliament in the near future. He also pressed the point that the amendment to the timeshare accommodation ordinance was an indirect tax, adding that the increased revenue could be used "to reduce school fees."
"Education," he said, "is the only way out of the darkness into the light."
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