BELIZE CITY, Tues. Dec. 4, 2018– Cruise Solution and Discovery Expedition, tour companies owned by Belizean David Gegg, have had a protracted legal battle with the General Sales Tax (GST) Department that ended up at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). On Friday, October 12, 2018, a panel of CCJ justices ruled that the GST Department must refund Cruise Solution and Discovery Expedition the GST taxes those companies paid, because the services they provided to cruise passengers were categorized, for tax purposes, as zero-rated.
The CCJ thus ordered that the GST Department refund over $400,000 that the companies had paid in taxes. Since Belize’s highest court issued the order that a refund be issued to Cruise Solution and Discovery Expedition, the Government of Prime Minister Dean O. Barrow has failed to obey the CCJ order.
Today, we caught up with Financial Secretary Joseph Waight, and asked him if the government has paid the refund to the companies, as was ordered by the CCJ.
Waight informed us that the Prime Minister and the government have amended the GST law, and the amendment has retroactive effect. Therefore, government will not pay Cruise Solution and Discovery Expedition, Waight informed us.
At the sitting of the House of Representatives on Friday, November 23, Prime Minister Barrow introduced a bill to amend Chapter 63 of the General Sales Tax (GST) Act. In the words of the Prime Minister, the amendment was designed to “cure the mischief” in the law that led the CCJ to come to its decision in the Cruise Solution and Discovery Expedition appeal.
One attorney whom we spoke with is of the view that the amendment is in violation of the constitutional right of David Gegg, who had a legitimate expectation to collect his GST refund based on a court order.
Retroactive legislation, the attorney said, can be dangerous when it violates the rights of people.
It is expected that the Financial Secretary’s statement and the government’s retroactive legislation on the GST will spark a new round of litigation from Cruise Solution and Discovery Expedition.