Senator Warns Government Taking Bigger Cut as Fuel Prices Rise

Every time a Belizean fills up their tank, the government takes a cut. According to one senator, that cut has grown by nearly two-thirds as global oil prices have surged.

Business Senator Kevin Herrera warned that as global oil prices climb, so too does the amount of tax the government collects at the pump.

When crude oil was trading around sixty dollars a barrel, he said, the government was collecting roughly twenty-seven dollars per barrel in taxes and duties, representing about 45% of the acquisition price. With oil now hovering around one hundred dollars a barrel, that take has climbed to around forty-five dollars per barrel, or about six dollars per gallon at the pump.

That, Herrera said, is a 66% increase in what the government collects every time a Belizean buys fuel.

“It would be unconscionable for government to capitalise on this unfortunate situation we are in,” Herrera told the Senate. “I am hoping that adjustment would be made, but I have not seen that yet.”

Herrera’s argument is that if the government is collecting significantly more, the least it can do is ease the burden on drivers by adjusting the tax structure downward.

The government has not directly responded to Herrera’s specific figures, though Prime Minister John Briceño, in an interview with News Five earlier this week, stated that the administration had already foregone roughly sixty million dollars in fuel tax revenue.