Imagine Paying No Income Tax

Prime Minister John Briceño says scrapping income tax is his vision for Belize, but for now, the Cabinet has told the Belize Tax Service to look at cutting the tax for workers earning between $29,000 and $50,000.

He said that bracket is where the middle class is and that the tax puts pressure on those families.

“I wish we could get away and waive all taxes, income taxes. That would be my vision that someday we can do that.”

But he said the government would have to replace the lost revenue, and a large part of what it collects comes from those same workers.

“Cabinet has directed the Belize Tax Service to look at that tax bracket to see what cuts we can do. Can we cut it down by fifteen per cent or raise the threshold a little bit more?”

Briceño said his government has already helped thousands of workers by raising the threshold.

“It is our government that raised the threshold to thirty thousand dollars, twenty-nine. And by doing that we helped thousands of employees who were paying thousands stop paying taxes.”

The review is part of the Cabinet’s search for cost-of-living relief.