Floralia’s Marvin Vanzie Says, “Floralia Did Not Receive Any Preferential Treatment”

We reached out to Marvin Vanzie for comments, and he informed us that he was not available for an interview with us at that time. He, however, sent a written statement saying “concerning taxation, Floralia paid G.S.T. and environmental taxes in full, which all Belizeans are obligated to pay. However, there was a reduction in Duty and Excise tax, which all Belizean businesses can apply for. Despite this, Floralia still paid taxes in excess of four hundred and twenty thousand dollars to the Government of Belize for six buses. By comparison, any other bus operator importing the standard old school bus would pay taxes less than twenty thousand for six buses.” Vanzie even provided copies of the receipts showing he paid the reduced import duty and excise tax on the six buses to the Ministry of Finance and Customs and Excise Department. Payments were also made for environmental tax and general sales tax on the buses. The first two receipts are dated November eleventh, 2021, while the last four are dated February first, 2022. Vanzie told us,  “Floralia invested in order to provide Belizeans with the highest quality transportation available in the world. Our primary focus is our customers, and we will continue to prioritize their needs. It is clear that Floralia did not receive any preferential treatment; in fact, we paid so much in taxes that it would have been enough to purchase an entire fleet of older school buses. Floralia is committed to providing our customers with only the best.”