Payment plan delayed now that New Hospital on hold.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) owes the government of St. Maarten NAF.6M in taxes mostly wage taxes. SMN News learned that several medical workers of the institution cannot have their working documents processed because SMMC cannot provide their workers with their tax declarations. When asked by SMN News on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers press briefing if SMMC owes taxes and if lack of non-payment is hindering the process of working documents for the foreign employees? Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. confirmed that SMMC owes government NAF6M in taxes which also includes wage tax. He said the medical institution have been struggling financially and that they approached him and requested a tax write off which was denied. He further explained that an agreement was made when the discussions on the New Hospital were being held and that SMMC would have to sell assets such as land that they would have paid off their debts to the government.
Minister Gibson said now that the New Hospital is on hold due to the judgement handed down by the Court of First Instance, the tax settlement is also placed on hold.
As for the issuance of working documents for the workers of the institution Minister Gibson said even though he is not the Minister of VSA or justice he personally does not believe that the department or labor or IND should punish the institution that need workers by not processing their request for working documents because SMMC did not pay their taxes.
