Labour cost decreases and tax simplification dominate the Diamond Election Debate
On Monday 5 May, the Diamond Election Debate took place in Antwerp’s Beurs voor Diamanthandel, organized by AWDC, in cooperation with UNIZO. Current issues and diamond-related topics such as taxation, competitiveness of the Antwerp diamond sector and the importance of the financing of the diamond trade were discussed.
More than 250 participants attended this event, which took place in the Beurs voor Diamanthandel. It was a vivacious debate with Meyrem Almaci representing Groen, Philippe De Backer representing Open VLD, David Geerts representing Sp.a, Jan Jambon representing N-VA en Steven Vanackere representing CD&V.
For more than five centuries Antwerp has been the world’s most important diamond trade hub. 84% of all rough diamonds and half of all polished diamonds are traded in Antwerp. In 2013, total trade was valued at €40 billion. Due to the uncertain and ambiguous taxation climate, rapidly decreasing margins and ever growing competition from other diamond sectors, Antwerp’s leading position is under serious threat.
Ari Epstein, AWDC CEO stated, “In order to remain number one, we need support from our politicians. Business-friendly taxation and measures to strengthen entrepreneurship in Flanders and especially to bolster our SME’s in an international environment are high on the agenda of entrepreneurs in our country. We are therefore very pleased we organized this debate in cooperation with UNIZO.”
Almost all parties called for a reduction in labour costs and administrative simplification as a means to boost the competitiveness of our businesses and to create a stable business climate.
Of note was the consensus among Open VLD, CD & V, N-VA and surprisingly enough Sp.a, to consider and investigate the introduction of a sales tax for the diamond industry, provided that such a measure does not constitute a reduction in the tax level. N-VA Member of Parliament Jan Jambon and CD&V representative Vanackere called for a calm debate and not to succumb to damaging rhetoric for the sake of political advantage. Groen politician Meyrem Almaci stated she was not in favour of tax measures, but for a reduction in labour costs combined with the development of new initiative that could improve the image of the sector, such as a Fair Trade Diamond label.
The Antwerp Diamond Debate was organized by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), representative of over 1650 registered diamond companies and UNIZO, the Union of Independent Entrepreneurs that represents 85.000 entrepreneurs, self-employed persons, SMEs and free professionals in Flanders and in Brussels.
You can find pictures of the event here.
