Business Sector Questions Tax Staff Competency Amid Major Overhaul
Belize’s business sector is speaking out and their concerns are aimed squarely at the Belize Tax Service Department. With the department preparing to transition into a semi-autonomous revenue authority, there’s a big question hanging in the air: Are the current staff up to the task? Here’s the issue, employees who want to stay on board will need to go through an interview process. That’s drawing attention and criticism. If they’ve been handling tax collection all this time, why the need to re-qualify? And if they’re not already qualified, can they really be trusted with sensitive financial data in this new setup? It’s a conversation that’s gaining traction and tonight, we’re hearing from the President of the Public Service Union.

Dean Flowers
Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union
“That is the reality, that is the reality and that is why we are saying, and it needs to be said, because I believe the director would have also said we have engaged in irresponsible remarks. No, we are holding you accountable. We are calling you out and we call out the former prime minister and his administration who appointed somebody who was not trained in tax administration, or tax supervision or tax application, you were not trained. You are an IT specialist and yet you were brought in, created an anomaly where your pay scale is concerned to amalgamate two tax departments and then to further complicate that misfit, this administration would have issued two contracts to somebody who was not fit for purpose and that is a fact, since the want to speak facts. You don’t know what it is like to run a tax department. A bad decision was made. We need to now ask her, you oversee this amalgamation, why the high rate of turnover in the project execution unit? And if you have a high rate of turnover, what project did you execute in the last five years. Where is your staff moral. It is on an all time low. There is a toxic environment. There is no proper reporting. There is no data that is driving this new structural change for SARA, absolutely no data, just emotions.”
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