PSU: ‘Hit Pause on Revenue Authority Bill’, GOB Responds

Government has rejected most of the Public Service Union’s demands over the Revenue Authority Bill, 2026. It has refused to guarantee that transitioning tax officers will keep jobs on terms “no less favourable” than what they currently hold.

PSU had asked the government to pause the bill last month. The union argued workers still lacked firm legal guarantees on jobs, pensions and union rights, and called for 16 changes and answers to 22 questions before the bill moved forward. 

In a detailed response dated August 31, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight addressed the union’s concerns point by point. He said the Belize Revenue Authority will operate under a new organisational structure with different job descriptions and its own compensation framework. Existing posts will not transfer automatically. Officers will instead go through a recruitment process, and current staff will get first preference.

“The purpose of transitioning to an Authority is to create an organization capable of attracting and retaining skilled professionals. To achieve that objective, the Authority’s compensation and benefits framework must be competitive and, overall, more attractive than the terms available within the Public Service,” Waight said in his response letter.

Government also declined to mandate a specific pension fund or timeframe. It said actuarial work is still underway. It rejected the union’s push for a formal collective bargaining mandate too, arguing that right already exists under labour law regardless of whether it is written into the bill.

Officers who are unsuccessful in securing a position at the Authority will remain in the Public Service. They will be placed in roles “commensurate” with what they currently hold, a term government has agreed to formally define.

However, Waight conceded some ground. He agreed to add a provision protecting officers’ accrued pension rights. He also agreed to explicitly require that the Auditor General’s report accompany the Authority’s annual report to the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, in a separate press release issued today, the Ministry of Finance said the reform is intended to modernise tax administration and is not simply a rebranding exercise. The ministry maintains that the Authority will remain subject to the Constitution and existing oversight mechanisms.