Tomorrow all the attention will be on action outside the National Assembly building, but inside there promises to be some drama inside as well. As we reported earlier in the week, sources in the Cordel Hyde and Mark Espat camps have indicated to us that both PUP backbenchers will not support the budget. Whether this means an abstention or a vote against the budget remains to be seen, but it is believed both south side representatives will speak out against the new tax measures.
But one man who will do no such thing is their former G-7 colleague, Jose Coye. This week, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Jose Coye was sent out by government's spin-doctors to garner public support for a widely criticized budget. Yesterday, he told Alfonso Noble that increased taxes are in no way reflective of government mismanagement.
Alfonso Noble,
The monies collected in taxes will be used to pay government debt which does not necessarily mean the people's debt. It means Intelco debt and DFC debt has been squandered...
Jose Coye, Minister of State in Finance
"No that's not true, that's where I differ from you. That's why I'm saying statements are being made without evidence. While we agree, I agree clearly, that there was in fact some mismanagement, there is no doubt about that, nobody, has really said in public 'listen this is the cost of that mismanagement.' As the government, we have an obligation to quantify it and that is what we are in the process of doing. We can't say there is a loss from Intelco. We will only know that at the end of the road, which I hope is not too far, when there is a finalization as to the affairs of Intelco with regards to those assets. The same with the DFC, we are strengthening the DFC to try to maximize on all the debts that are out there; the non-performing loans are the ones I am referring to. So we cannot say that is what this tax is for. This tax is not to go and pay Intelco. It's not to go and pay the DFC. What the DFC is getting from the government is for the subsidy that the DFC was carrying out in the cases of education, in the cases of low-income houses, and even subsidizing through the securitization in the case of industrial, farming, and fishing sectors. So to tell me that this is going to pay debt and therefore by paying debt its not coming to the people, my point I made to you earlier is that if you borrow money to invest in something and you're getting returns on it obviously you have to pay back the debt. But it is not to suggest that income you are making from what you're investing to pay the debt is not that good; that is good. When the government builds roads, bridges, when it builds schools, hospitals, when it strengthens the tourist sector through access to Caracol or wherever they are, all these things that the government do are investments that it is making. They are capital investments and they will benefit the country. They will create an enabling environment for the productive sector so obviously it has to be paid back. But in the paying back, the economy should grow from that and as the economy grows without increasing taxes..."
Alfonso Noble,
The present situation in Belize is that in fact we have this sector that is invested into the country, in the real country there is the other sector that two benefit is derived into the country from investments and I repeat again the Intelco the DFC the St. James, Novelo's that kind of thing and these make the bulk of the situation. These make up the bulk of the state of affairs we are at now.
Joe Coye,
"However much mismanagement and however much miscalculations was done with Intelco and Novelo's, the point I am trying to make now is that to say that this tax is to pay for that is not true because that process has not yet to be completed to know what cost if any there will be."
We'll have coverage of the House debate in tomorrow night's newscast.
