And the government's revenue would be significantly recovered if the Belize Tax Service Department could collect on the entirety of the arrears which the public owes in back taxes.
Their running count says that at this time, there are over 640 million dollars in uncollected taxes that have accrued over the years. The problem is that 80% of that amount is statute-barred and cannot be collected from those who owe.
Yesterday, the Director-General of the Belize Tax Service Department discussed all that revenue that will have to be written off by parliament:
Michelle Longsworth - Director-General, BTSD
"Overall, when we last looked at it, it was 6 hundred and forty-something million. Now, you have to understand that these are tax arrears that came over from the two departments. What happened is that on the books, you will find tax arrears for sales tax. We know sales tax has been out - for VAT. So, this tax recovery unit, what they will do now is focusing on cleaning up that tax, taking out these things. The process for us to take taxes off our books has to go to parliament. So, Parliament has to approve for us to remove any tax arrears from our account, and I think-"
Reporter
"The ones already statute-barred, correct?"
Michelle Longsworth
"So, you know Sales Tax and VAT have not been around for a while, but these are still on the books. And so, the tax administration now, our officers will be focusing on cleaning up tax and then presenting a true picture of what our real arrears are, and how will proceed to collect those arrears. That is what the tax recovery unit will be focusing on."
Reporter
"At what point does it become statute-barred because I think the over 600 million dollars in taxes, I think 80% of that is statute-barred."
Michelle Longsworth
"Yes, from our initial analysis, we have 80% of that debt that is older than 5 years. In any calculation that you use, you know that taxes, when you look at it the depreciation - I use the word depreciation, but the collectability of it is very low after you pass 30 days, 60 days, 100 days. You have a percentage formula that you use to know what is collectible, and what is not. So, that 80% that is greater than 5 years, we deem that those will be uncollectible."
