The pathetic dairy cow

Curaçao is a rich country. Only the wealth is very unfairly distributed. Nowhere in the Kingdom is the dichotomy between the wealthy and the poverty-stricken as great as in Curaçao. A small group of savvy business owners swims in the florins while a majority of the population has the greatest difficulty making ends meet and many thousands more do not succeed at all.

Thanks to a corrupt system that has been maintained for decades, with the excesses being a selective collection policy by the tax authorities and leaving the gambling mafia untouched.

That seems to be changing. Under pressure from the Netherlands, the tax authorities are being shaken up. And the recently resigned Minister of Finance Gijsbertha has bequeathed to his successor a bill that provides that the e-gaming sector should finally pay taxes, if only slightly.

A lax government – where were the people's representatives anyway? – has enabled and for years allowed a handful of cunning businessmen to enrich themselves by trading sublicenses for operating online games of chance. Notaries, lawyers, accountants, tax specialists and trust bosses profited fully by devising structures in exchange for generous compensation to keep the billions of dollars in turnover out of sight of the upper world.

If only the people of Curaçao had also benefited from it… The opposite is the case. Not a dime! The island has also acquired a dubious reputation as a facilitator of international criminal organizations that use web casinos to launder profits from drug, human and arms trafficking and channel them to terrorist organizations. It will have deterred many a decent investor from doing business on, with or via Curaçao.

The new law should ensure that the e-gaming sector will pay a few percent of tax. A few percent can easily account for several hundred million extra national income. Money with which the quality of education can be improved, health care (including the hospital that is in need of money) can be kept afloat and youth unemployment (50%) can be combated.

The gambling world is of course strongly against it, because it is allergic to corporate social responsibility. A newspaper also had to deal with them and headlined that the minister wants to squeeze the gambling sector like a cash cow. And that about businessmen who, after enriching themselves on the backs of ordinary Curaçaoans, are on the back foot because a very modest contribution is required from them that can make the future a little better for everyone on the island. Dairy cow? You mean money wolves in sheep's wool!




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