PM Briceno Says Publication of Tax Arrears Was a Mistake

Prime Minister John Briceno told the media yesterday that the publication of businesses with tax arrears was a mistake.  In his remarks to the media, he noted that while there has been economic growth, there is the issue of outstanding taxes that the government needs to collect.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “It’s unfortunate that that was made public. It should have, and I’m speaking for myself it should not have been made public and we should have continued working with these individuals to work with them. As we know there have been tremendous growth in the economy over the past four years and nobody can dispute the fact but it’s unfortunate that some small businesses, many instances because they don’t know how to go about filing their taxes are in problems but we stepped in. We step in whenever they ask for help. We cannot write off taxes, it’s only the national assembly but how do we help? We can try to negotiate with the Belize Tax Service to try to remove the interest or the penalties so we can make it more affordable. We do not want to get anybody out of business. We want more businesses, we want more entrepreneurs that’s why we’ve been doing a lot of work with BELTRAIDE working with a lot of small businesses for them to be able to thrive in this growing economy.”