Some merchants caught in price squeeze
While the big boys sort out their multi-million dollar differences, consumers on the ground still face the uncertainty spawned by the February first tax increases and their subsequent–perhaps temporary–repeal. Today I went out on a shopping trip and found that while most prices have returned to January levels, some people have been left holding the more expensive bag.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
For the past four days, Belizean businesses have been caught between the rock of government negotiations and hard place of local purchasing power. This storeowner says goods she bought after February first, which were subject to the short lived tax hikes, are still sitting on her shelves. She can?t return them to the wholesaler and since the price rollback on Saturday, customers won?t pay the higher rates.
Wholesalers contacted by News Five say the goods that were caught in this tax grey area were cigarettes and beer.
But while small businesses claim to be taking the brunt of the tax suspension, bigger companies say goods on their shelves have yet to be affected by the higher taxes.
Santiago Castillo, CEO, San Cas Distributors
?We never did raise the prices so we don?t have to rollback any prices. Janelle, as you may be aware, importers should have at least two months of stock in their warehouses which is the rule of thumb. That being said, as the merchandise starts depleting and pays the higher tax, that is when you should impose and put on the higher price. So from our standpoint, we are using this situation at least prior to them removing it back, we are going to keep our price levels until all our stocks are depleted and the new merchandise is paid.?
Sherman Sawers, Manager, Brodies Albert Street Branch
?We have received a couple shipments from local suppliers but in return, they have issued us credit note for the difference so prices are maintained as they were before February first.?
?As the goods are coming in for this month, we won?t be increasing any prices until the taxes are officially in effect then we will see the difference, the cost will be landed here in the store.?
Today, the business community is advising consumers to shop around.
Santiago Castillo
?Try to get the best value for your dollar. That does not necessarily means the cheapest because sometimes the cheapest will cost you more in that you can maybe stretch out a product that costs you a little more for a little longer. But let them get value for their money and I really believe that Belizeans are smart consumers and will do that. The only time that companies will raise their prices and it?ll happen to us and our competitors is right now the EURO is at all time high. So a lot of European products as they are arriving are going up and so for example, it just happened to us with our Gallo Processed cheese. So we need to warn consumers that that has nothing to do with the environmental tax. If the environmental tax was put on it would have gone up even higher.?
Sherman Sawers
?We understand that the government needs to make money. There will surely be taxes, shop smart. For me I know you give a lot of give backs from stores like Brodies and I would take advantage of those give backs like stamps and coupon programmes; it will benefit you in the long run.?
A limited number of grocery items are governed by official price controls and government is supposed to be enforcing these regulations, albeit with limited resources.
