Last night, you heard the President of the Public Service Union put the Briceno Government on blast for failing to identify suitable candidates to serve as the new chairperson and new commissioners of the Public Service Commission.
During that extended teleconference interview, the PSU President also took aim at the Belize Tax Service Department.
He insisted that there are public officers who are owed thousands of dollars in tax returns, but for whatever reason or the other, they can't get access to those funds. Here's how Dean Flowers explained the issue yesterday:
Dean Flowers - President, Public Service Union
"Let's not forget that when the government strong-armed 10% of the salaries of public officers. In our view, it demonstrated that most public officers, in the region of 60% of the total number of public officers, were earning 30 thousand dollars or less per annum, which would mean that this category of public officers will have eligible to earn a considerable amount of overtime, prior to COVID. What we're seeing is that complaints are now coming to the union that dates to 5 years, and in some cases 6 years; they have been reaching out to the Belize Tax Services Department, then the Income Tax Department, to say, I want my tax returns. I have filed. It shows that I am owed thousands of dollars. And the Tax Service Department has a 1-line excuse. Your ministry or your finance officer has not reconciled. These public officers go back - in some cases - to their finance officer, and the finance officer would say, 'I have done what I needed to do at Belize Tax Services Department.' I received a call last week from a teacher, and while we don't represent teachers, it would appear that most people would think that the Public Service Union can solve all their problems. Well, a teacher reached out to me and said that for three years, she is due over 5 thousand dollars. She put her finance officer from that high school on the phone, who was able to confirm that she had sat with the Belize Tax Services Department and reconciled. So, where is the problem? Is it the Ministry of Education? And if is the Ministry of Education, then we're calling on the Prime Minister to task the Attorney General to do a review of all these problem ministries where people are having difficulty getting back their tax returns. Clearly, the Belize Tax Services Department and the respective finance officers have been unable to identify and resolve the issues that they're having, to ensure that people get their moment back."
