Chamber signs off on reforms
On Monday night, approximately two hundred and fifty members of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry attended a special general meeting to decide on their next plan of action. As a result of the discussions, three resolutions were passed:
One, that the ten point reform package presented to the Government of Belize on November twenty-fourth 2004 has been adequately addressed and therefore ?agree by majority vote to accept the reforms as agreed by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Trade Union Congress and the Government of Belize.”
Two, in the context of the “many outstanding issues regarding mismanagement and excesses that exist in government and given that Government has not satisfactorily addressed matters of public interest, increasingly unmanageable public sector debt and allegations of corruption”, the members of the BCCI “demand political and legal redresses of outstanding issues which have contributed to the dire economic circumstances of the country.”
And three, “considering the proposed taxes are a burden on the economy, but conscious that compliance is a legal commitment, the membership request the Government to consider a review of the taxes and continue unbroken dialogue.”
This afternoon, News 5 spoke with President of the BCCI, Arturo Vasquez, to discuss the membership’s resolutions.
Arturo Vasquez, President, BCCI
?We know today is the first of February; it?s the effective date of taxes. We have got a mandate from membership for the board to continue dialogue and keep a dialogue with government for the next fifteen days. We are not encouraging anybody not to pay; it?s the law to pay, but you can pay with protest but yes the purpose of the resolution was to give us fifteen days to dialogue with Government.?
?I believe that they accept the fact that it is law, that you have to pay it, but I believe that everybody is still prepared to hoping that government may give more time to do more dialogue where the taxes are concerned. So to answer the question–I think it?s–there may be some who are prepared to say let?s forget about this, let?s move ahead. But I?m sure there?s a lot, who are saying, like everybody else is saying, how did we get here, maybe these are not the right taxes to pay, maybe we do need to look at other avenues of perhaps achieving the same revenues.?
?I think there is a lot of wrongdoing that has been done. I still believe that a lot has been done in the past. But I still think that we need to look at the reality of this thing. We perhaps need to move on. I would really urge the government to give us more time so that people can really spend time and try to analyze it but to see if there are better ways of doing it to satisfy everybody in general. Government of course has a task of trying to gain confidence again from the public. I think they have lost it. But I think it?s a job for all of us to do. As responsible leaders I think we all need to be a part of this solution. Not to say that we are throwing in the towel, as such, none at all but we do need to look at what the real, real effects of it can be. We wouldn?t want at the end of the day that everything just collapses. That definitely will affect everybody.?
According to Vasquez, members of the Chamber have agreed not to engage in any mass shutdown in the immediate future.
