SARA Promises Efficiency, but at What Cost?  

The Revenue Authority Bill did not reach the Senate floor today, but questions about its potential cost remain. The Public Service Union is urging lawmakers to reject the legislation, warning that the proposed Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority could burden taxpayers without guaranteeing greater accountability. Government says SARA would modernize tax collection and improve efficiency, but will the promised benefits outweigh the expense? News Five’s Britney Gordon examines the proposal and what it could mean for taxpayers.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

SARA promises faster, more efficient tax collection, but could it cost Belizeans more? PSU President Dean Flowers warns that the new authority could significantly increase government’s wage and pension bill. Government insists pension benefits would cover only the years employees served as public officers.

 

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“The Belizean people need to understand that once this bill is affected, effectively you’ve abolished these offices and you, taxpayers, now have a duty and an obligation to pay these people a pension for life. If you abolish somebody’s office, you will treat them as if they worked up to the age of fifty-five, and you will pay them their benefits due, and they become immediately pensionable.”

 

The reform seeks to transform the Belize Tax Service Department into a more autonomous agency with greater operational flexibility, but others argue that SARA would give the tax authority too much autonomy with too little oversight. Director General Michelle Longsworth says the proposed authority would control its finances, hiring, salaries, benefits and daily operations, while answering mainly to its CEO and the Minister of Finance.

 

Michelle Longsworth, Director General, Belize Tax Services (File: August 28^th, 2026)

“We have a lot of international obligations that we have to ensure that we meet. We need to ensure that our staff continues to evolve, and also that we have the opportunity to ensure that they have opportunities within the organization to grow. I am saying that given the opportunity for us to have more autonomy in our workforce management, it provides need for better efficiency that we must provide as we continue to evolve in a digital economy.”

 

Months of questions have produced few clear answers about SARA. The PSU says government remains unclear about who would wield power and who would cover the added costs. Attorney Darrell Bradley argues that government does not need another statutory body. It needs to fix the public service.

 

Darrell Bradley, Attorney-at-Law

“Where is the research or where is the collaboration and discussion in relation to knowing and recognizing appreciating and that that is a good move for national development. There is none. So you have a situation where few people may want to take the country in a certain direction but the country belongs to all of us.”

 

So, who truly benefits from SARA? Government says Belizeans would gain a faster, more modern tax system. Many, however, fear the authority’s broad independence could benefit the institution more than the taxpayers it is supposed to serve. Britney Gordon for News Five.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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