The Proposed Trade License Regime Explained

Dyon Elliot

While the discourse on social media is centered around Article Seven of the bill as it relates to entertainers, peddlers and others now having to pay for a trade license, Policy Analyst Dyon Elliot explains the issues with the trade licensing regime as it has been in place since 1976. Elliot says that the bill proposes a new methodology to calculate annual rental value and expands now to include rural areas. While they may not agree with the methodology, they appreciate that the municipalities benefit from this revenue. 

Dyon Elliot, Policy Analyst, Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry

“The government went and worked on different iterations of this thing; the most recent one before us which is not being discussed in the public sphere right now is how the annual rental value is being calculated under the bill that has gone before the House. The bill before the House proposes a new methodology to calculate annual rental value. It takes your business classification. There are different zones. Belize City has three zones, zone one, two and three. And each business classification – whether it’s an accommodation, professional service, auto dealer, x, y, z they have a different rate per square foot for those businesses depending on the business classification, based on the zone that they are in and that is used to now calculate based on your square footage that looks at that is how now you are going to be assess for your annual rental value. The municipalities are now given an option to choose a rate. Before the law had it fixed that you were supposed to be charging twenty-five percent on annual rental value. Now the nine municipalities that currently have a trade license are given the options to choose what rate as long as it is twenty-five percent or below. So for example Belize City has said that they will choose fifteen percent. That is the proposed regime now. We don’t necessarily like it; it is not the best regime as President Blake has said. Our call has been for flat fee for years; that’s the international best practice, it is for flat fee.”