No wage tax for minimum wage
workers from January 2008
PHILIPSBURG--Wage tax will not be levied on the salary of workers earning the minimum wage from January 2008, announced Labour Commissioner Louie Laveist over the weekend.
The Commissioner made the announcement during the minimum wage forum held at John Larmonie Centre on Saturday night.
However, Humphrey Alejandra, representative of Labour Minister Burney Elhage, said he was not aware that a decision had been made for this to go into effect on the date Laveist had mentioned. He said, though, that he was aware that the Central Government was working towards removing the levy in the future.
Laveist said he had made a proposal in Parliament a few years ago when he was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the levy of the tax to be removed. He said, though, that because St. Maarten’s minimum wage had been NAf. 100 more than that of Curaçao at that time, the proposal had been turned down. “Parliament has now accepted my proposal and as of January 1, 2008, all minimum wage earners will be exempted from wage tax,” said Laveist. “I give my word on this.”
“I’m not aware of this,” Alejandra said. “But I know the tax department was working on it and it was indeed a proposal from Laveist.”
Saturday’s forum was held to shed light on the minimum wage increase that went into effect in November 2006. Laveist had said he had received complaints from many workers that they were not being paid the correct amount.
Also speaking at the forum were Island Labour Department Head Rafael Boasman, Chamber of Commerce and Small Business Development Foundation (SBDF) representative Ludwig Ouenniche, Federal Labour Department Head Kenneth Lopes, Windward Islands Federation of Labour (WIFOL) President Theophilus Thompson and Dennis Richardson, who was the moderator.
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