Government's new tax measures come into effect tomorrow and right now the business community is meeting to decide what to do about it. As has been reported, the bulk of the new tax revenue, almost half of it, will come from an increase in business tax which the business community is not expected to pass on to the consumer in increased prices.
Throughout the weekend, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Bureau held meeting with government and Sunday's session focused on the possibility of delaying the introduction of these tax measures. But at the end of the meetings which concluded at 11:30 last night, government held to the position that it cannot delay the introduction of those tax measures. So tonight, the general membership of the Chamber of Commerce is deciding whether it will, or must accept, and if it rejects, how to effectively do so without breaking the law. Speaking with us today, Senator for the business community Godwin Hulse explained the business sector's position on tomorrow's new taxes.
Senator Godwin Hulse, Chamber of Commerce
"We concluded basically as I said the reforms to our satisfaction and as you understood, those have to go forward now through process. We have also some other proposals which we advanced but we had no conclusion on those so tonight we go back to our members for their decision on where we go from here."
Keith Swift,
Are you satisfied you got the best deal given the limited time you were in negotiations?
Senator Godwin Hulse,
"Well there actually was no deal. We simply dialogued and discussed and had commitments to institute what should have been instituted. All the 10 points that we wanted instituted have been addressed and are going to go forward to the National Assembly."
Keith Swift,
So government agreed to all your submissions?
Senator Godwin Hulse,
"Oh yeah, yes."
But one group that likely won't be joining them in any kind of protest is the Belize Service Station Dealers Association. 7NEWS has confirmed reports that the government has agreed to roll back the increase on the business tax charged on fuel station owners. The budget proposal was that gas stations would see their rate of business tax increased from 0.75% to 1.75%. But 7NEWS has been informed that after a letter of protest from the dealers and the threat of a national gas station shutdown, government agreed to roll the tax back to 0.75%.
Speaking with us this evening, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Jose Coye clarified. He told us that government is not caving in to the demands of the fuel dealers, but that it was an error in the text of the budget speech because he claims government never intended to increase the business tax on fuel. We should note that the fuel dealers had even if implicitly indicated that they would force a national shutdown of gas stations if they were additionally taxed.
