And while the UDP wants to "kill the bill," the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry is calling on the government to come to the table for further consultations.
In a Zoom press conference today, the president, Marcello Blake, explained that they feel the bill was hurried to the House and that they did not get adequate time to digest it or to get buy-in from their members. They're now asking that this be done before the bill is passed in the House.
In the meantime, like the UDP, the BCCI aren't too sure that this is the best time for the bill.
Marcello Blake, President, BCCI
"For us, we remain committed to the process to ensure that we could move towards a fee rather than what it is currently which is a tax by another name that actually is levied on businesses as a trade license. And so for us, while in the short and long term we remain sympathetic to the municipalities, and the need for the funding that go into those municipalities in order for them to offer the necessary goods and services, we are also of the opinion that we must move towards a flat fee rather than the way the calculations are being done currently. And so while the conversations have been ongoing and yes the Chamber has been consulted, part of our challenge with the move to take it to the House so early is the fact that the Chamber did not necessarily have adequate time to be able to go through the actually written bill."
"For our members, a lot of them are still trying to recover from the pandemic so it's not the ideal time for any increase in the cost of doing business and so while this has been in the making for some time, hence the reason I said there needs to be further consultation and dialogue before this is fully signed into law for us to then also be able to provide our input into the timing. And we do appreciate that there has been the conversations over the years delaying the implementation of what the trade license could look like and we are here now to be able to view what has been proposed but our position remains and has been from day one for us to get to a flat fee and in so doing that would require that the municipalities also look at ways of enforcing, where they can, for the compliance and collection of revenues but also be able to look at other revenues streams because it is only that way that we'd be able to get to a flat fee if we look at this as a stepping stone to getting to that but this cannot be the final phase in that shift. This is only, for me, an avenue for getting to that flat fee."
