Tax Department Revamp Promises Better Oversight

There have also been questions about the purpose the Belize Tax Service Department’s transition to semi-autonomous revenue authority. Director General Longsworth explained that the move will lead to improved revenue collection, improved governance and enhanced personnel management.

 

On the Phone: Michelle Longsworth, Director General, Belize Tax Service

“Countries often move to a semi-autonomous model to achieve quick and visible improvements in revenue collection, in governance, in personnel management. When you look as reforms mature, because BTS has undertaken many reform initiatives over the past five years, so you see that once reform matures you have to look specifically at how you can improve, the tax administration has to be agile. It cannot remains static and it cannot remain in the government mode per say. Because of the pace and complexity of how a modern tax administration is required to be flexible, so the transition into a semi-autonomous structure will allow for this improved service if we have the ability to control the investment we place in our people. We will be able to respond faster to the needs of our people while remaining publicly accountable. So it’s about building on what we have, not just discarding it. I will use an example, on the surface, we the public usually see  the domestic functions like registration, filing audits. But behind the scenes, tax administration are facing growing international obligations, from cross-border data exchange, to tackling crypto transactions, automatic exchange, a whole other set of requirement from a tax administration which requires that our staff be equipped to address these obligations as a tax administration.”