Lee: We will not be bullied

This was the position advanced by party chairman David Lee ahead of meetings today between the Opposition, the Bankers Association and the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) legislation.

Both meetings take place at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Portof- Spain. The Opposition meets first with the Bankers Association at 10 am and then with the Chamber at 11.30 am.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad- Bissessar will not be present for either meeting since she is still in London, where she attended a conference last week.

Lee told Newsday that after meeting separately with both organisations, Opposition members will caucus on what transpired and then some of those members will be in the Senate from 1.30 pm for debate on the Finance Bill.

“We are hear to listen but we will not be bullied by any association,” he declared. Lee said it was very unfortunate that the Bankers Association declined an invitation to meet with the Opposition last Friday at 10 am on FATCA but chose instead to hold a news conferencde on the same issue.

He added that the Opposition wrote the Association last week indicating last Friday was an opportune time for them to meet. While Lee said the Opposition will facilitate both groups today and hear their views. However he was non-committal as to whether the Opposition would change its position of calling for the Tax Information Exchange Agreement Bill 2016 to be referred to a joint select committee.

Last Friday, five of the country’s major business organisations called on Government and the Opposition to put aside political wrangling and pass the FATCA legislation. Bankers Association, Anya Schnoor, said that the association began discussing this issue with the previous government from 2012 to 2014 when the then government accepted the “Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) 1” option and entered into an “agreement in substance” with the US Treasury Service, a first step toward adoption of the legislation. In a letter dated December 15 to Persad-Bissessar, Schnoor said if the bill is made subject to existing laws such as the Data Protection Act and the Financial Institutions Act, as they relate to confidentiality, “the bill would be rendered ineffective.” Schnoor also told Persad-Bissessar that the Association does not consider the MOU between the competent authority ( Board of Inland Revenue) and the US Treasury should be subject to affirmative resolution of Parliament.