When Will Higher Taxes and Retrenchment Come?

John Briceño

According to Briceño, the prime minister failed to take note of the stipulations of the 2012 superbond agreement, which states that if government was to default, it has to pay an eleven percent penalty on the five hundred million plus U.S. dollar debt. Briceño says that would cost Belize an additional hundred million dollars. The P.U.P. also predicts taxes and loss of jobs in the public sector.

John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader

“The prime minister needs to come clean…what taxes is he going to increase and how much. He’s already saying that he is going to increase at least another hundred million. Last year he increased over fifty million on top of what he was already collecting on fuel. Now he is saying another hundred million; I don’t see that coming from fuel. So is he going to raise GST? What taxes is he going to do. And secondly, they are going to see what action he’s going to take to reduce expenditures so that has to be retrenchment. The government needs to come clean. The prime minister needs to tell the nation how many people they are going to retrench.”