On Wednesday, the Senate passed the Tax Administration and Procedure Bill which ultimately seeks to increase government revenues. The bill merges the Income Tax and General Sales Tax departments. The new law also seeks to strengthen the collection of taxes and enforce penalties for companies and entities which have and continue to evade paying taxes […]
The Upper House met this morning in the Capital. A bill which seeks to merge the Income Tax and General Sales Tax departments into the Belize Tax Service Department was debated this morning by senators. The merger of these departments is expected to not only facilitate the official and effective administration and collection of domestic […]
Through the successful passage of this bill, the Belize Tax Service Department is also expected to provide for tax procedures and civil and criminal penalties for persons found to be violating tax laws. Social partner senators, while encouraging the amalgamation, pointed out the need for authorities to crack down on persons who evade taxes across […]
Responding to the concerns raised by the senators were U.D.P. Senators Michael Peyrefitte and Stephen Duncan. Peyrefitte and Duncan asserted that in order for businesses to avoid penalties, businesses need to be tax compliant. Stephen Duncan, U.D.P. Senator “As you read the legislation you get the sense that the onus is being shifted from […]
Two new senators were sworn in today. It was Darrell Bradley’s first day as President of the Senate. He was appointed to the post after Lee Mark Chang stepped aside to pursue a career in politics. While attorney Michel Chebat has on several occasions temporarily stepped in for the P.U.P.’s lead Senator Eamon Courtenay, today, […]
The bloodbath over the weekend has triggered a statement from Leader of the Opposition. John Briceño notes that ten persons lost their lives this past week in a crime spree. In a statement, he holds the Barrow administration responsible for another six months in which the law-abiding citizenry continues to be paralyzed by crime. The P.U.P. […]
The first phase of village council elections was held on Sunday. A total of thirty-five villages in Corozal, Belize, Cayo, Stann Creek and Toledo participated in the first round. The People’s United Party won one hundred and twenty-three seats, while the ruling United Democratic Party won seventy-three seats. Forty-nine seats were garnered by independent candidates. […]
On Friday, the House of Representatives read through the Tax Administration and Procedure Bill 2019 which essentially sees a merger of the Income Tax and General Sales Tax departments. The purpose is to facilitate the official and effective administration and collection of domestic taxes. While the opposition supported the move, concerns were raised in respect […]
Prime Minister Barrow responded to those claims as baseless and unsubstantiated, notwithstanding the fact that the opposition supports the idea of streamlining the tax system. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “At least he was good enough to concede that the notion of the amalgamation as an effort to streamline the entire tax system and to […]
The House of Representatives met today in ordinary session, one month after a special meeting was called to amend the Maritime Areas Act, following the May eighth I.C.J. referendum. But that Kumbaya moment during which there was peace and calm, or better yet a sense of political maturity between the government and the opposition, was […]
While things got testy between the PM and Espat, Opposition Leader John Briceño attempted to have order returned to House and despite the Speaker’s intervention, the cutting remarks kept coming. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “Again, that act… He… but I think all schizophrenics are actors. But I shouldn’t have said schizophrenic again, I apologize.” […]
A thorough investigation into the real estate swindle that was Sanctuary Bay is being undertaken by the Federal Trade Commission, an independent arm of the U.S. government tasked with providing and promoting consumer protection. The scam in which American investors lost over a hundred million U.S. dollars was perpetrated in Belize through Atlantic International Bank […]
Musa openly questioned the business transaction during which principal ownership of AIBL was assumed by former Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Pelayo, but not before taking a few more swipes at the Barrow family. Kareem Musa, Area Representative, Caribbean Shores “When these fraudsters, these Sanctuary Bay fraudsters were faced with lawsuits, who did these scam […]
While the Caribbean Shores Area Rep enjoys parliamentary privilege for utterances in the house, the prime minister took umbrage to the allegations that the Atlantic Bank may have had a hand in the purportedly dubious transaction. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “He is, in effect, suggesting that the separation between Atlantic International Bank Limited and […]
The topic of education proved equally testy as Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber responded to concerns raised by Freetown Area Rep and former Minister of Education Francis Fonseca. In responding to Fonseca, the Minister of Education mentioned assistance provided to students in the Fort George and Toledo West constituencies. It wasn’t long before area representatives […]
Eamon Courtenay has vacated his seat in the Senate. Having served as a parliamentarian in the upper house for as many as ten years as lead senator for the Opposition, Courtenay is moving on with the P.U.P. in another capacity. He has been appointed as the Opposition’s representative on the Belize-Guatemala Committee that is working […]
According to the opposition party, the people’s money has been pumped into projects and investments which it claims are unjustifiable. The P.U.P. is charging the C.E.O. of politicization of the S.S.B. and claims that the S.S.B. has been infiltrated by the U.D.P. The release says that, “These are people who have made millions under the […]
And finally, the P.U.P. says that the S.S.B.’s directorate has failed miserably and must be held accountable. The party calls on the government to immediately desist from playing politics, but Singh reminded the P.U.P. of the 2003 protests that resulted in the increase of contributions. Douglas Singh, Chairman, Social Security Board “What the release did […]
Over the course of the next six weeks, one hundred and ninety villages will elect new councils. Village council elections are scheduled to commence on Sunday, June twenty-third. More than one thousand, three hundred seats will be available across the country. During the last village council elections, the United Democratic Party captured sixty percent of […]
Sandra Torres, Guatemala’s former first lady, is leading in the Guatemalan elections, following the release of partial results today. Torres, who has ties to Belize, successfully won the first round of the presidential elections. According to online reports, Torres garnered more than twenty-five percent of the vote while her opponent conservative Alejandro Giammattei garnered fourteen […]
The Belize City Council is facing cash flow problems. It’s a recurrent financial hurdle that all municipalities go through and it is caused by the ‘seasonal nature of tax collections’. During this time, because tax collection is low, the councils are tasked with exploring alternative options to alleviate such short-term seasonal cash flow challenges. This […]
Belize City Mayor, Bernard Wagner, also updated News Five on the municipal bonds. According to the mayor, investors in all tranches of both Series one and Series two bonds have already received their principal investment. The Belize Municipal Bond is also comprised of Series Three which contains three separate issues totalling more than nine million […]
Village council elections are scheduled for this month. Elections will take place between June twenty third and the twenty-eighth. Village councils across the country have been dissolved and while not much attention is given to these elections, this year’s result can serve as a glimpse into the political future of Belize. Thousands of voters living […]
At the beginning of the month, the Public Service Union which represents tens of thousands of public officers held its annual general meeting. During the meeting, an election took place and Gerald Henry bested Doreth Obermayer by more than one hundred and thirty votes for the post of president. Henry is joined by Trisha Perez […]
It has been more than a year and three months and a report on the Senate Special Select Committee’s inquiry has yet to be produced. The committee drilled and interrogated several witnesses and key experts as it delved into the findings of the Auditor General’s Special Audit Report of the Immigration and Nationality Department 2011-2013. […]
