Page 14 - MEDIA MONITORING JULY 18TH, 2018

LOCAL
A17
Wednesday 18 July 2018
Continued from Page 14
Caribbean Member States of ICAO are the sovereign countries: Antigua and Bar- buda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Repub- lic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamai- ca, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trini- dad and Tobago.
Already, in 2013, at their Worldwide Transport Con- ference, the ICAO issued the following text to be in- cluded in their Template Article on Taxation (TASA) :
“.... Each party shall under- take to reduce to the full- est practicable extent and make plans to eliminate as soon as its economic con- ditions permit all forms of taxation on the sale or use of international air trans- port, including such taxes for services which are not required for international civil aviation or which may discriminate against it.”
According ICAO a tax is a levy that is designed to raise national or local gov- ernment revenues, which are generally not applied to civil aviation in their en- tirety or on a cost speci c basis. ICAO has also rec- ognized that in the past decades there is a devel- opment of tourism taxes in some regions, in particular Latin America, the Carib- bean and to a lesser extent in Africa, up to USD 55. In many cases, revenues from the tourism taxes such as Tourism Enhancement Fee and Travel Promotional levies are not being rein- vested in tourism develop- ment. The Caribbean may get the reputation of being one of the bad guys on the block in that regard.
The main principles on tax- ation contained in ICAO policies are frequently adopted by internation- al organizations in policy documents. Some regional organizations and industry associations, such as the Airports Council Interna- tional (ACI) and the Inter- national Air Transport As- sociation (IATA), have also developed policies that are opposed to discrimina- tory and unfair government taxation on air transport. The World Tourism Organi- zation (UNWTO), while not
opposed to taxes per se, as part of the overall s- cal responsibility of States, considers that travel taxes should be scrutinized ob- jectively to avoid exces- sive burdens on travelers/ companies with a view to reducing taxes that have a negative impact on travel and, hence, on tourism de- velopment.
Despite these policies, the past decade has seen an unprecedented prolifera- tion of taxes levied on air passenger tickets in the re- gion. This trend is causing serious concerns and has a negative impact on the sustainable development of air transport, which, ulti- mately, negatively impacts the tourism industry and the overall national economic development.
Caribbean governments are well advised that be- fore making a decision, an independent evaluation by quali ed professionals acquainted with econom- ics should be made on the impact of passenger taxa- tion. A ‘neat’ idea to get some extra money in the coffers, may turn out to be a monkeynomics. What plays a crucial role and contributes signi cantly to an economy must not hin- dered by ineffective gov- ernment taxation. q
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