Today is December 1st, the first of the month, which was the day the IMF team recommended that the Musa administration implement new tax measures to fill its widening fiscal gap. Well today there are no new taxes but that doesn't mean there won't be. That is the word from Prime Minister Said Musa after he met this morning with the National Economic Advisory Council. The meeting which included the Cabinet Finance Committee along with representatives from the business community started at 10 and ran until after lunch. But after two hours, there was still no word on any new taxes. But this evening Musa told us the stakeholders will be the first to know - when there is something to know.
Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister
"Contrary to what people were fearing that we were going to just adapt the IMF recommendations to implement tax measures on December 1st, which is today, that this is not so and that we would not do anything without further consultation with them. We want them to get on board, all the representatives of capital and labor, to understand what we are trying to do and indeed to get their input in terms of enhancing revenue collection. One of the issues mentioned today is that we need to do more but we need the cooperation of the private sector in terms of dealing with tax evasion and tax avoidance whether it be in the Customs, whether it be in collecting land tax, or whether it be in collecting the arrears in income tax or sales tax. We are working hard to bring these things up to date to cut out the arrears, to cut out waste, and to see what we can do in terms of having a far more effective government at work."
Keith Swift,
Two weeks ago the former Prime Minister (Manuel Esquivel) commenting on the IMF recommendations said they are not optional but necessary if your government wants to close the budget shortfall. So are your just worsening the situation by delaying what may be inevitable?
Hon. Said Musa,
Well I don't share that view with the former prime minister. I believe that before we implement any tax measure we must ensure that we do the right thing and that we have proper consultation with the people affected, with the stakeholders which means with the business community, and with labor who represent people at large. We want this thing to be something that people can realize that the government is doing 'so and so' because this is the best option as opposed to arbitrarily imposing tax measures immediately."
Keith Swift,
The Chamber and Unions last week said they will revolt against any tax increases. How will you deal with this?
Hon. Said Musa,
"Well I think there is a general realization and in fact it was raised by a member from the Chamber of Commerce that we nor they can talk about defying the tax because once you incite a tax revolt, so to speak, or incite violence in our country we are going down a slippery slope and a lot of people can get hurt. And they themselves certainly don't want that and certainly government will ensure that we do things in a prudent way and we are not going to impose tax arbitrarily like how the VAT was imposed on people and like how the tax on savings was imposed on the people by the UDP administration. We are dojng this in consultation with the people."
Last week the Chamber of Commerce and National Trade Union Congress of Belize issued a joint release opposing the implementation of any new taxes. Opposition Leader Dean Barrow has done the same.