Tonight the government is on the defensive after one of the online news sites published a mischievous little story alleging that Minister of Natural Resources Cordel Hyde was having a showdown with Minister of State for Finance Chris Coye.
The issue - it is alleged - is over the far reaching tax collecting tentacles of SARA - the Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority that is supposed to take the place of the Belize Tax Service by the end of the year.
SARA won't only collect business, sales and incomes tax like BTS - it will also extend to land and property tax. It's all in the name of increasing revenue collection but the two Ministers are alleged to have philosophical differences - with Hyde tending more towards a social justice approach, while Coye tends to a neo-liberal approach.
It's a minor article not very heavily sourced and it might have been well enough to leave it alone - but government has responded with a declamatory press release.
That makes clear that on April first Cabinet collectively approved the transition of land tax collection and enforcement from the Lands Department to Belize Tax Services Department which was explained in a Cabinet brief where it was described as "a phased one year transition process."
The release says the transition aligns with the Government's quote, "broader tax reform strategy of centralized and digitized tax administration to enhance compliance, efficiency, and revenue collection."
The release also notes a long acknowledged fact: land taxes are grossly under-collected. The release says, quote "Government, on average, collects roughly $7 million per annum in land taxes. …this roughly represents a fifteen percent compliance rate, leaving almost $40 million uncollected from landowners every year."
The post has since been taken down.
