WILLEMSTAD - Despite the serious findings of chaos, possible corruption, and favoritism within the tax authority of Curaçao, as revealed by a recent investigation conducted by the Foundation for Government Accountancy SOAB, the government led by Prime Minister Pisas has decided not to impose any personnel consequences on these issues.
Head of the Tax Authority, Receiver Alfonso Trona, and Head of Tax Inspection Jamilia Isenia will remain in their positions. Internal coalition interests, particularly tensions between MFK and coalition partner PNP, appear to hinder further action.
The SOAB report, published on March 30, 2024, focused on the collection process within the tax authority and revealed significant shortcomings. Despite these findings and recommendations for improvement, the political reality within the coalition government has resulted in a standstill in taking personal responsibility, under the pretext that SOAB did not do so in its reporting either.
In response to the report, the Minister of Finance announced, without directly addressing the personnel issues, that SOAB will periodically assess the proper application of the collection policy.
Key steps include discontinuing advances from January 1, 2024, developing and implementing an improvement plan, and strengthening internal controls.
It has been decided that any outstanding advances must be settled as soon as possible. All files of outstanding assessments must be provided with the necessary documentation (including the substantiation of payment arrangements).
There will be a reporting point for civil servants and/or taxpayers and an information campaign to inform the Curaçao community about the collection guidelines so that everyone is aware of their rights and obligations.
These initiatives demonstrate a commitment to improving what went wrong, but they are being implemented by the same people who previously and repeatedly made mistakes under the responsibility of those who allowed, perhaps initiated, corruption and favoritism, and did not want to resolve them on their own.
The absence of direct personnel actions in response to the identified problems raises questions about the government's willingness and ability to implement thorough and necessary reforms.