The total number of tax warrants published in the Gazette is 331 and while the majority are for businesses (218, or 65.9 percent), private citizens are also feeling the pressure. The tax inspectorate issued 112 warrants to private citizens (33.8 percent of the total).

For the majority of the businesses, their activity cannot be deduced from their names; this concerns 191 businesses (57.7 percent).

With 26 warrants (7.9 percent), restaurants lead the fiscal dance among beleaguered businesses, followed by retailers (16 or 4.8 percent) and construction companies (15, or 4.5 percent). Other sectors that stand out are finance (6), marine industry (5), insurance companies and jewelers (3 each).

All warrants have one thing in common: the current address of the company or the citizen is unknown. This makes it unlikely that any of them will ever comply with the demand to pay up within two days after the date of issue. A prime example is the oldest tax warrant. It dates back to August 16, 2018 and it was issued to Gulf Insurances.

While the list represents a motley crew of businesses and individuals, a few stand out because they are the only ones in their sector. The Gazette lists for instance one hotel (Caribbean Turtle Inn), one airline (LIAT), one security company (Philipsburg Security Services), one judicial institution (SJIB - Foundation Judicial Facilities), the water supply company Seven Seas Water, one trust company (Richardson Trust Company), one medical center (Abadjief Medical Center) and even one university (American University of the Caribbean).

Most of the tax warrants were addressed to tax dodgers in Cole Bay (79, or 23.9 percent), followed by Philipsburg (52 - 15.7 percent), Simpson Bay (36, or 10.9 percent), Cay Bay (27 - 8.2 percent) and Sucker Garden (16 - 4.8 percent).

The most recent tax warrants listed in the Gazette were issued on September 2 - nine to businesses (among the Sloan Gallery in Cole Bay) and two to individuals.

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