But the national shutdown they seem to be planning goes along with the Chamber's decision to shutdown tomorrow. Last night at the meeting, the chamber membership agreed to a two-day shutdown of their member businesses. After the meeting, Chamber President Arturo 'Tux' Vasquez explained to Keith Swift.
Arturo Vasquez, Chamber of Commerce President
"A resolution was passed for the closure of businesses. The initial resolution by the executive was really to have an agreement on whether they were prepared to close down as a means of making a stance or at least making a point."
Keith Swift,
What do you hope this will accomplish?
Arturo Vasquez,
"At this point I believe we've had a lot of discussions. I think government having read their budget on Friday and passed all 3 readings of the finance bills and made it law, perhaps closes the door to continue dialogue on that regard. We also think that the reforms that we have been requesting are being inadequately addressed as well. So from the point of view of the executive and certainly as President I think we have done our part. Now it comes to taking it to the membership now for first of all for them to agree that our position has been correct all along and if that is the case then what really is our way forward. That was the purpose of this meeting today. This meeting was to first of all update our members which I did in my presentation. The immediate reaction really was that people are disappointed with what occurred. So the main objective today was coming up with a resolution and a way forward. The resolution the Chamber had made, initially, was suggesting a shutdown. We don't want to address not paying any taxes at this point. We need to leave some further dialogue for later on. The recommendation was a one day shutdown. Interestingly as we presented this to the membership, nobody was satisfied with just one day, the majority was shouting for 2 or more. But I don't feel we need to get too irresponsible at this point. I think we need to address it little by little. So the resolution, to answer your question, is it's a two day shutdown for Thursday and Friday."
Joining the Chamber chorus, the Belize Business Bureau today called for a 3-day shutdown of businesses. The BBB noted that the increased environment and business taxes will burden Belizeans. The BBB has asked all their members to close tomorrow through to Saturday. The Chamber says that it has confirmed that 123 businesses will close down tomorrow, including 25 Chinese Grocers. Brodies will remain open meanwhile Atlantic and Scotia Banks along with Bowen and Bowen Limited have voiced support for the effort but they will not close.
