Trade License Fees; a hot button issue within business community
The recent increase in trade license fees by the Belize City Council remains a hot-button issue within the business community. In some cases, business owners have seen a three hundred percent spike in charges, an upturn that many describe as “uncomfortable”. On Thursday, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in an email forwarded to its membership, requested that the names of all businesses currently affected be submitted by noon today. A comprehensive list, which includes fees that are being levied on each business, has been tendered to Mayor Darrell Bradley for consideration. The decision to have him review the directory of businesses, in order to reduce the taxes, succeeds a meeting with the Minister of Labor and Local Government, Godwin Hulse. Hulse has interceded on the chamber’s behalf in an effort to come up with a clear and more reasonable means of calculating trade license fees. In a subsequent press release issued by the Chamber today, the mayor’s assurance to consider the names for tax reduction is outside of talks held with Minister Hulse on the matter. News Five attempted to get a comment from Mayor Bradley, however, we were informed that he was in a meeting to discuss the issue.
What this article doesn’t mention is that other trade licences are going up as well. I am a small business owner in Dangriga and the Town Council sent me a letter telling me my trade license will be doubling.
This is a chicken s–t saga by Hulse, the mayor and the municipal authorities. Get rid of trade license totally. Let’s bring down the cost of doing business and help in decreasing inflation.
A big problem of tax enforcement in the Jewel, and especially in the city, is political — somehow taxes land lightly on business and property of supporters of the ruling party, and sometimes a lot heavier on members of the minority Clearly that is wrong, immoral, corrupt.
Instead of having elected politicians review the business rolls and try to make taxes fair, why not appoint a judge to do that? Sure, some are political too, but they have taken an oath to be fair and just.
THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY AND LIBERTY IS THAT ALL LAWS SHOULD BE APPLIED EVENLY AND EQUALLY TO ALL CITIZENS. Until we reach that point, the majority party will always be an oppressor, whether it is red or blue.
@ Malcolm Dale……..At first when I saw the name, I was like…….I only know one Malcolm Dale. Then I read from Dangriga and I was convinced it’s the old Englishman that sold boledo on Commerce Street , what, for the past 30, 40 years? And even then, he was already a grown man.
You have been blessed with longevity dude.
Afta all dehn yaas eena di Jewel, yu muss andastan kriol by now so ah wah gi uh it raw. Kip tek kare ah yu self bloke.