GREAT BAY--Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs’ proposal to require Members of Parliament and Ministers to contribute 8 percent toward their political pensions would bring St. Maarten directly in line with Aruba, where an 8 percent deduction has been required from political officeholders for years.
Gumbs announced during the 2026 Budget debate that she intends to move forward with establishing an 8 percent contribution for MPs and Ministers, arguing that political officeholders should contribute toward their pension arrangements just as civil servants are required to contribute toward theirs.
The proposal would represent a significant change for St. Maarten, where MPs and Ministers currently make no employee contribution toward the pension benefits attached to their political office. A review of the systems in Aruba and Curaçao shows that requiring politicians to contribute toward these benefits is not unprecedented within the Dutch Caribbean.
Aruba Already Requires 8 Percent
Aruba provides the closest comparison to what Gumbs is proposing. Under Aruba’s Landsverordening voorzieningen politieke ambtsdragers, the definition of a political officeholder specifically includes a Minister, a Member of Parliament and the Plenipotentiary Minister. Article 19 of the law requires that 8 percent of the remuneration of a political officeholder be withheld monthly as a contribution toward the cost to Government of benefits for former political officeholders and their surviving dependents.
The law dates back to December 2010, shortly after Aruba’s political compensation arrangements were consolidated into a new legal framework.
The 8 percent deduction has also been applied in practice. In a 2018 tax case involving an Aruban parliamentarian, the Court of First Instance recorded that the statutory 8 percent had been withheld from the MP’s remuneration and described it as a mandatory contribution arising directly from the law.
If St. Maarten adopts Gumbs’ proposal at the same rate, its MPs and Ministers would therefore be contributing at the same percentage currently required of their counterparts in Aruba.
Curaçao Ministers Contribute 6 Percent
Curaçao also requires its Ministers to contribute toward their political pension arrangements, although at a lower rate.
Under Curaçao’s Landsverordening geldelijke voorzieningen ministers, enacted in 2021, 6 percent of a serving Minister’s pension calculation base is withheld as the Minister’s own contribution toward the pension premium. The law also provides for a 3 percent contribution from the calculation base of a former Minister receiving a transitional allowance.
Curaçao’s Government legal register continues to list the law, as amended in 2023, as the legislation governing the remuneration and pension arrangements of Ministers. There is, however, an important distinction when it comes to Curaçao’s Members of Parliament.
The separate 2021 law governing members and former members of the Parliament of Curaçao provides for parliamentary pensions and states that those benefits are charged to the budget of Parliament. Unlike the law governing Curaçao Ministers, the parliamentary legislation reviewed does not contain an equivalent provision requiring a 6 percent personal pension contribution from sitting MPs.
Gumbs Frames Proposal Around Fairness
Gumbs introduced the proposal during her Budget presentation as a matter of fairness and shared responsibility. Civil servants in St. Maarten currently contribute 8 percent toward their pension, while MPs and Ministers do not make a comparable employee contribution toward their political pension benefits.
The Finance Minister said she has received approval from the Council of Ministers to begin moving toward establishing the 8 percent contribution and is targeting implementation from January 2027, subject to completion of the necessary legal process.
Her proposal would therefore effectively place the political class under a contribution requirement comparable to the one already carried by civil servants. Gumbs told Parliament that the existing situation has persisted since St. Maarten became a country on October 10, 2010, despite the legal framework providing for the contribution to be regulated.
She argued that taxpayers should not be expected to carry the entire pension cost of political officeholders while Government employees are required to contribute a portion of their salaries toward their own retirement benefits. “Fair share must mean everyone’s fair share, including ours,” Gumbs said during her presentation.
