Beyond ?no new taxes? Chamber unclear on tax reform

At that point the Chamber’s executive director, Kevin Herrera, took a stab at answering the question: “What type of tax system does the Chamber want?”

Kevin Herrera, General Manager, B.C.C.I.
?I think your question was in terms of the principle of equity. That principle states that everybody would pay a little but the whole may be more. I think that?s what we want to look at.?

Stewart Krohn
?That?s not what equity means in the contents that the government is talking about it. Equity means that those with the ability to pay, pay more and those who don?t have the ability to pay, pay less.?

Kevin Herrera
?In terms of what exist now, when you compare what we have now and where we want to go in the future what happens is that there are so many people who are not paying taxes and the pool that are paying taxes have to keep on paying more. That?s a situation we want to address.?

Stewart Krohn
?Who are the people not paying taxes??

Kevin Herrera
?I don?t want to get into that right now Stewart. But they?re all–the problem is those businesses and companies and individuals who?ve always been paying taxes. Again, this is the pool that government keeps on going to. So we are saying that the entire tax system is unfair when you look at that. So the principle of equity would address that in terms of–and I think this is where we want to go and I think this is what Minister Coye was talking about yesterday–is that everybody will pay something but those who have been paying should pay less. So, then it will end up where the individual people will pay less but the pool may get larger in terms of the total amounts they collect in taxes.?

Stewart Krohn
?Kevin with all due respect, I cannot understand what you are trying to say. If you look at the tax system, it seems that the people least able to pay because of the high consumption taxes are burying the brunt of the burden. These would be your average or low paid workers are paying more than a proportionate share. Now if they are going to pay less that means that somebody has to pay more. Stance the reason that the people who are going to be asked to pay more and the people with more, who seems to be your constituent, than the union?s constituent. That?s not what your are telling me. You are telling me that the people who don?t pay are going to have to pay more and you still won?t tell me who is that?s not paying.?

Kevin Herrera
?I?m saying that you have to spread the tax burden. Whatever that means, we have to spread the tax burden. There?s a small pool in Belize that are paying taxes and that?s what we have to address. I don?t see it difficult in understanding that. We need to widen the pool so that those who have always been paying taxes could get some relief in terms of the amounts that they pay. That may be taxing some people who are not being taxed right now. The thing is, those who have been always paying cannot continue to take on the additional burdens in terms of taxation. I think that is where the problem is. ?

Stewart Krohn
?Again I ask, who is it that?s not paying taxes??

Kevin Herrera
?That?s a long exercise Stewart. We have not carried out that exercise yet. What we do know is that I think from the latest statistics we?ve seen that it?s a relatively small pool of individuals overall who are paying taxes and we are perhaps that can be broaden somewhat and make the entire process more equitable. That?s what we are looking at. But in terms of the details, we have not gone through that. That will be a prolonged exercise.?

We are still waiting to find out exactly who is and is not paying their taxes and are also seeking to clarify the precise meaning of the term “equity” in the context of taxes.