In his discourse on Monday morning during the public meeting finally convened by the Parliament of Aruba at the request of the AVP faction to address the topic of the drastic rise in the cost of living, the leader of the Aruban People’s Party (AVP) Mike Eman said that the real value of a society can only be measured in the way it treats its most vulnerable members and the Wever Croes II Cabinet is not fulfilling its responsibility.
Considering that Aruba has 22,000 pensioners, of which only 3 to 4 thousand have an additional pension, you take away from the vast majority, that 18,000 depend only on their AOV pension; a pension that does not reach the minimum amount necessary to live according to the Centraal Bureau Statistiek (CBS) and even worse for all those who do not have it complete. While it takes 2,528 florins to live, many pensioners earn 600 florins or a maximum of 1,400 florins.
I wonder how the Wever-Croes II Cabinet can run this country knowing that there are over 50,000 people who, at this moment, cannot meet the most basic needs. “The income is not enough to cover them to have a humble life; not even a life, but just a life that at least gives them the tranquility to raise their family”, the MP stressed, noting that almost half of society, including those with income, pensions and minimum wages, live in emerging poverty and the government is not doing anything to try to bring relief.
On the contrary, each step taken by the Wever-Croes II Cabinet makes the situation worse. With the introduction in a few weeks of the 7% BBO at the border, fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry which are currently at 0%, will pay 7% at the border. Taxes are said to be deductible by the merchant later, but once they are placed at the price, they do not count as taxes. Pesey, when Haman was prime minister, came with a repair kit to ease the burden of BYO. Now the weight of the BBO in the 3 chains which is currently rising to 21%, when you put the 7% at the border, some of that will also be left in the price. Which probably leads us to a 24% BBO weight.
The MP made it clear that the figures are not just political arguments. The Tax Department told Parliament that they estimate they will receive an additional sum of 40 million in the government’s coffers and according to Eman expressed: “Someone will pay. To get an extra 40 million florins, someone will pay the BOLO.