27.2 C
Belize City
Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

Photo: Students and staff of Stella Maris...

BPD awards 3 officers with Women Police of the Year

Photo: (l-r) Myrna Pena, Carmella Cacho, and...

Suicide on the rise!

Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

Government’s new legislation passes through the Senate

HeadlineGovernment’s new legislation passes through the Senate

BELMOPAN, Wed. June 26, 2019– The Senate met this morning in the National Assembly Chamber under the presidency of former Belize City mayor, Darrell Bradley, who succeeds Lee Mark Chang. Chang resigned as President of the Senate so that he could run in a United Democratic Party (UDP) constituency convention to select the party’s standard bearer for Caribbean Shores.

The Senate debated a number of Bills that passed through their stages at the House of Representatives meeting last Friday.

Among the Bills the Senate debated were the Customs and Excise Duties Act, the University of Belize Bill, and the Tax and Administration Procedure Bill.

Senator Mark Lizarraga, the senator representing the business sector, said that the government had committed to the reduction of tariffs, a measure for which the private sector had lobbied the government.“…we’re very pleased to see that this is the second part, I believe; I stand to be corrected of those initiatives. The private sector will certainly benefit because we already feel like we’re in a highly taxed environment, so any relief is welcomed. I need to comment that it would have been nice, I believe, had we seen some policy, clear policy dictating why some items remain very highly taxed,” Senator Lizarraga said.

Senator Lizarraga said that they are very comforted that these amendments finally were passed, because they had been looking forward to them for the last two years.

Senator Godwin Hulse, the Leader of Government Business, said that government’s concept of the EPA over time is to harmonize the entire tax regime.

“If it were up to Belize to set the rates on particular items, we would be going, but it is a concerted effort, particularly because within the whole CARICOM structure and the single market and economy, is a common external tariff which we also have to work with. The way that works is, within the community there are certain tariffs…when we step out of the community it changes to help to protect production within the community,” Senator Hulse said.

In discussing the Tax and Administration Procedure Bill, the newly appointed Opposition, People’s United Party (PUP) senators, Michel Chebat, raised concerns about the role the Director General will play when the Income Tax Department is merged with the General Sales Tax Department.

Senator Chebat also focused on the issue of privacy under the new law, which will require the surrendering of financial statements for tax collection purposes.

Senator Chebat pointed out that the legislation aims to increase government’s revenues, and noted, “one would hope, Mr. President, that with the increase in revenues there would be the increased obligation on the part of the government in terms of great accountability and transparency in how the public funds are being spent.”

“Currently, Mr. President, as you know, banks are prohibited from disclosing any private information in relation to their customers and so while one understands that there is a need for information, it must also be balanced with protecting the privacy and the rights of the citizen, and so, Mr. President, that is one of the areas that raises some concern, that in fact there be some mechanism in place to ensure that there is a balance between the privacy of the individual and obtaining the necessary information to be able to collect the correct amount of taxes and so forth,” Senator Chebat said.

UDP Senator Michael Peyrefitte told the Senate that he is afraid of the police and of the risk of going to jail, so he pays his taxes.

“I, Mike Peyrefitte, I ‘fraid for police and I ‘fraid for jail. I am afraid of very little else but those things I am afraid of. So what I do, I make sure I don’t commit any crimes. Listen, you don’t want to be in trouble with the tax people, then, pay your taxes. It’s not rocket science, you don’t have to worry about interest, you don’t have to worry about penalties, you don’t have to worry about anything from the tax person if you simply pay it. If you cheat on your taxes, or you try to evade taxes, then you have every reason to be afraid of this new piece of legislation. But if you’re like me and you do render on to Caesar what is Caesar’s, then none of Caesar’s women nor men will ever cause any fear in you because when they come, they are not coming for me, I pay my taxes,” he said.

Check out our other content

World Down Syndrome Day

Suicide on the rise!

Check out other tags:

International