Factorising costs of FATCA compliance

But in quantifying the current and future costs of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of the US) compliance, one must go beyond the costs to be incurred by individuals, companies, local banks and other financial institutions and the potential loss of their billion-dollar profit margins .

We must also factor in the huge losses/blemishes that the diplomatic and international image, as well as the Exchequer/economy/ investment climate of the country TT , will suffer .

What loss of value can we place on the regressive diminution of our sovereignty, political independence and the independent functioning of our parliamentary democracy by the use of duress, reprisals, threats, interference in our internal affairs etc? Are we still living in a globalised village, borderless world based on mutual respect and interdependence of nation-states? The current debate seems to be revolving exclusively on the axis of blind, pro-country FATCA loyalists versus partisan Opposition- based politics .

Many are claiming conveniently to putting country first by their indiscriminate short-sighted definition of the imbroglio and support, most notable of which is the Bankers Association .

The media, reinforced and fed by the People’s National Movement (PNM) propaganda machinery, are promoting the view that the PNM Government has developed a patriotic stand. It has the ultimate and exclusive responsibility to achieve passage of the Bill with the requisite threefifths (26) majority. Hitherto it has failed to mobilise Opposition support by influencing it positively .

The fault for this FATCA fracas lies exclusively with the PNM and it alone. It is the Government according to the late Makandal Daaga .

The PNM has been conducting itself in a most impetuous, politically partisan, irresponsible and adversarial manner, using Parliament to derive cheap political mileage by discrediting the Opposition at every turn. It even reneged on its joint select committee agreement .

That is not the strategy that will compel and evoke the support of the Opposition — a sine qua non to the passage of the FATCA 2016 Bill. Bad mouthing the Opposition is counter-productive to the PNM’s legislative agenda on Constitution-amending bills. It has to stop this fruitless impulsive tirade/jihad Faris et al .

Although the PNM dominates the corridors of power, the electorate has imposed limits on the legislative reach/power of the Government. This the political neophytes cannot appreciate being bogged down by the old immature politics of confrontation and disrespect .

Three mainstream media editorials have zeroed in on this .

They have criticised the PNM for its wanton persistent display of garrulous political immaturity .

So far all that the PNM regime has been doing for 15 months is piggy-backing on the legislative legacy left by the PP (Bail, Gambling, SSA, FATCA Bills). It has been complaining about lack of automatic support from the Opposition while conducting itself in a confrontational, almost bulldozing modus operandi. That is not the road map for good effective governance, Prime Minister .

STEPHEN KANGAL Caroni