Union Leader Questions Need for Tax Overhaul

But according to P.S.U. President Dean Flowers, the issues within the Belize Tax Service Department are strictly personnel related. He questioned the need for a complete overhaul, as opposed to strengthening the department’s managerial and hiring approach. Here is how he puts it.

 

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“Why unu want to do this, that was the main question. They said, well the thing is we don’t have authority or full control over who we hire, so we don’t hire the best. Well, that is a lie. As a head of department, if you know your full roles and functions, no politician will be sending people who are not fit in a technical department. It brings to question the quality of people handling our tax data. That is their response. The other thing she said, when it comes to disciplining people, the process is too onerous and the supervisors are not properly assessing people, it is difficult to dismiss people and corruption is rampant and lastly people are not doing the amount of audits to collect the amount of revenue that covers their salaries. That is their response, the minutes will show that if they have the balls to show that, so it’s a management issue.”