fp Turks and Caicos

All five bills recommended to the forum by the governor validated fees which continue to be collected by the Turk and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA).

For example, the Aerodrome Security Charge (Validation) Bill 2010 was voted into law to validate the aerodrome security charge that has been collected by the TCIAA since 2005.

There was some ambiguity in several current laws and bills as to the specific authority of the TCIAA to collect the various fees and taxes. Concerns were raised by lenders as part of the airport redevelopment loan that the laws were not clear, which prompted the attorney general’s chambers to “tidy up” the laws. The amounts, which have been collected by the TCIAA since its inception, are now assured of their lawfulness through these new bills.

Four other similar bill amendments and validations were also passed into law, including the Aerodrome Use Fees (Validation) Bill 2010, Passenger Tax (Amendment) Bill 2010, Passenger Tax (Validation) Bill 2010 and the Airports Authority (Amendment) Bill 2010. In the case of the Passenger Tax, the revenue collected at the airport will continue to go to the TCIAA, while taxes collected from cruise passengers leaving the islands will be left with the government.