The debate on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Agreement (FATCA) was foiled by a second walkout by the Opposition in Parliament yesterday.
Debate on the controversial FATCA legislation now runs over to Monday — a situation which left Government MPs fuming.
|“They walked out on FATCA debate twice. We can’t pass this bill on our own, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty to the people,” Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said. “Chambers, business associations, the media, everybody should condemn them — shame on the Opposition.”
Government and Opposition had met yesterday where the legislation was to have been debated following the failure to agree in September.
Then, the Opposition had taken issue with several clauses and during final stages of debate, had walked out of the chamber. The bill which requires Opposition support for passage had lapsed. Government had promised to return it to debate after the 2017 Budget and that it would be scrutinised by a Joint Select Committee as the Opposition wanted.
The legislation facilitates US dealings with local financial entities on US citizens’ accounts. It would enable all local institutions to identify and report to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on the accounts of US clients. I f not enacted, T&T could suffer sanctions from the US including a 30 per cent withholding tax on transactions and halt of online financial transactions. This stands to shut down T&T’s banking sector and the economy. The US Government has urged T&T to pass the legislation by February 2017.
Before yesterday’s debate began, however, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar raised for debate the issue of T&T’s rising crime, as a matter of urgent national importance. She cited lives lost and missing people amid a rapid escalation of crime. She said murders are being committed with impunity daily at an unprecedented rate and the situation was causing fear, with families losing loved one.
She said if that continued, it would send signals to criminals that their deeds would go unpunished and could continue. She said the situation was damaging T&T’s reputation.
“There could be no more important matter than protecting the lives of our citizens,” Persad-Bissessar said.
House Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George said the matter did not qualify for debate under the regulation Persad-Bissessar had filed it and advised she refile it under regulation 16. As Annisette-George spoke, Persad-Bissessar protested the development, as did rumbling Opposition voices.
Annisette-George instructed Persad-Bissessar and UNC MP Rodney Charles to leave.
But even as Annisette-George began speaking, all other UNC MPs had already grabbed their belongings and moved to leave also. Some complaining noisily. Despite the empty Opposition benches, Government pressed on with “debate” on the bill, with statements from AG Al-Rawi, PNM MPs Fitzgerald Hinds and Stuart Young — all of whom condemned the Opposition’s walk-out.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert later began winding up debate which continues next Monday.