After more than 9 years of waiting for the "boom" to not just happen here on the
Islands, but really e-x-p-l-o-d-e....it is finally happening!! The Bay Islands will officially become a Freeport...a duty free zone!! Don Pearly, courtesy of Honduras This Week said it better than anyone yet.....and I quote
"On Wednesday the President of Congress Roberto Micheletti declared
the Bay Islands a Duty Free Zone as Congress held a special session on the island of Roatan. The hope is that the Duty Free Zone will increase investment, especially in the area of tourism.
For two days, the Caribbean island played host to two airplanes
full of Congressional representatives from all over the land.
Atlantic
Air put their Boeing 737 into play and snuck in-between cloudbursts on Tuesday morning. Organizers had busses and cars waiting and what
could have been chaos turned into organized chaos. The National police, Preventiva and Municipal police were there in full swing
and the dignitaries were shuttled to various places on the island.
After lunch at the Parrot Tree Resort, the voting members met at
a newly built auditorium at Coral Caye to do the formal discussions
on the duty free laws. The first formal session began at 5 p.m. on the 28th of November and ended at 1 a.m. on the 29th. Then a second session began at 1:30 and ended at 4:50 a.m.
During the weeks leading up to the passing of the laws, the press has been called to several private meetings with the organizers
and proponents of the program as they want them to be very careful
in presenting the true and factual situation to the public. The multitude of false information flowing around the country is enormous and there is still extensive work going on concerning the laws and
the by-laws which means that some situations are subject to change. This article only comes after exhaustive research into the complex
subject of the Duty Free Zone.
If you came or were coming to Rotan, Guanaja, Utila or Cayos Cochinos
for peace and quiet, a slow lifestyle and a stagnant economy, go further south. If you are in the mood for investment, development
or private business then the Bay Islands can now offer as much as Costa Rica or Panama or other places that have been working hard
for years to stimulate their economy via foreign investor and retiree
participation.
This program is being careful to take care of its own first. The people who live on the Bay Islands will be receiving the first wave
of benefits. After all, it was the former Roatan mayor and current
congressman the Honorable Jerry Hynds who started all of this and
has pushed and pushed again to make it happen. A 100 % employment rate is predicted between small businesses, new business ventures, construction and tourist related services.
One of the several motivators that began this quest for a Duty Free Zone was the rapid decline of the fishing, lobster and shrimp businesses and then of course the packing plants. The waters seemed to be fished
out and with the high cost of fuel going to the more fertile areas
defeats the purpose. This has been coming for years but the people in the industry could not get adequate assistance in keeping the rest of the world's fishing fleets away from our territories. That and perhaps too many depending on this one source of income has brought the industry to a standstill. It was informally suggested
the fleets be traded in for freight boats, as they will soon flourish.
As the Duty Free laws enter into force, the Bay Islands will be internationally renowned for having no income taxes. Worldwide, loopholes are used to overcome capitol gain taxes, the Bay Islands will have 4% capitol gain taxation. The sales tax of 12 % will be
reduced to 0 % for Bay Island residents. The customs import duties will be abolished completely and the business tax for tourist related industries will be reduced to only 4 %. This will be in unlimited quantities for the Bay Island folks.
Certain areas of the tax system that have failed in the past will be fortified. It is known that large amounts of money have not reached the municipal cash-box in the past, especially in the case of land and other real estate title transfers. It is also thought that some
crafty businesses cheat on their income reporting. These two categories will receive a face-lift and the lost revenue will help contribute to the healthy economy of the Bay Islands. Businesses will have
a 4 % tax and the tourist tax will be set at 4 % . Hopefully, the trickle down will later affect the education systems, the medical care facilities, public works and the employment situations and stop the mass migration of graduates to other countries after their graduation.
For those citizens of Honduras not residents of the Bay Islands there will be perks as well. Each member of a household will be given the right to purchase up to a certain amount of merchandise on Roatan. It must be done in person with proper credentials and it can only be done once each year. This particular section is still a work in progress.
On of the down-sides of the Duty Free Zone will be the mass influx of mainland Hondurans rushing to become residents on one of the Bay Islands. However, there will be laws to control the situation.
Those born on the island or those that have formally received permission to live there will receive a much-needed bonus, as they will be privileged people carrying a special I.D. card when purchasing goods or coming and going to their home island. Although you won't need a visa to visit the islands, as people have joked about for years, anyone headed for a Bay Island had best have a valid reason for
the trip. An accurate census will take place verifying the present
residence of the four Bay Islands. Information from the last voting registration will supplement the new information to be gathered.
The tedious system for filing for residency will remain as it is for a time but will eventually be replaced with a new streamlined, all self contained system. A second problem could be the infrastructure of the islands, but
the authorities assure that the islands will be made ready for the
steady rise of tourists from Central and South America as well as
from Europe and the United States. More public facilities will be needed in the transportation area, as well as better police protection
for the visitors and citizens, to name but a few areas of concern. A final concern is whether the ugly head of mordida (bribe), playing favorites or lining of one's own pockets will creep into the new
system.
At the extreme top of the new program will be the minister of finance, the minister of tourism and the minister of environment. There will
also be a board made up by the four island mayors, the president
of the Chamber of Commerce, the president of the Tourist Board,
a representative from the Patronatos Association and the Bay Island's
governor.
Now that the Congress has accepted and ratified the laws, the President is scheduled to arrive on Roatan and sign them into law. There is
then a 20-day period to get things in legal order and another 120-day posting in the Gazette while organizers are getting the implementation
process in order. It is predicted that by April or May of 2007 everything
will be working."
~ end of quote....taken from Honduras This Week, Monday, December
04, 2006 Online Edition 45
