Commentators lash RVIPF fee increases
A release sent by the RVIPF on Friday, May 17, 2013 stated, “As of June 1, application fees for visa waivers, police certificates and police reports and for fingerprinting services by Royal Virgin Islands Police Force will increase.”
Edmund Maduro said, “I don’t think they should increase anything… it’s too burdensome for the ordinary person, too burdensome on the community.” Maduro felt the raising of fees was a trend that the entire Caribbean seemed to be adopting.
“I don’t agree with it at all,” he added. The commentator felt that fee increases would lead to a simultaneous increase in crime and said, “You gain one way and you lose another.”
Meanwhile, Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru suggested that the fee increases are being done because the government is currently in a difficult financial position.
“I think that they need to think about cutting a lot of wastage in government before they completely overburden the society” he said, “because they’re doing all of these [increases] at once.”
He added that residents of the Territory are currently having a hard time and asked “When was the last time people had a pay increase?”
Sowande noted that everything else was being increased at the same time and reflected on recent increases in electricity. “The government hasn’t done a good job of keeping the cost of electricity down,” he stated.
The commentator asserted that the ruling party promised to investigate a recent fuel surcharge on electricity bills, but until now a fuel variation cost remained that left persons unclear about the reasons for the variation.
“It’s no comfort to people to tell them that (a fee) hasn’t changed for 20 years because people are having a very difficult time and I don’t think that you could try to fix the government’s problems, especially by taxing and increasing fees on the most vulnerable people in the society,” he stated.
The fees were raised following the passing of the Police (Amendment) Act 2013 in the House of Assembly in April.
According to the RVIPF release, the fees have remained unchanged for over 20 years, “to reasonably accommodate the cost associated with providing this service to the public.”
Currently, the fees for a visa waiver and fingerprinting services cost $30, while the fees for police reports and police certificates are $20.
The announced increases come on the heels of another announcement by Premier Dr The Hon. D. Orlando Smith of departure tax increases scheduled to take effect around the same period.
Attempts to reach Opposition Members, Hon. Andrew A. Fahie and Hon. Julian Fraser, RA for comments on the proposed RVIPF fee increases proved unsuccessful.
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