Why Was Andrew Munnings Sent to Jail?

After the news broke that the owner of the well-known funeral service, Andrew Munnings, was being jailed over unpaid taxes, many members of the public were quick to come to his defense. Several pointed fingers to the list released by the Belize Tax Service earlier this year of business and people who had outstanding payments. Although Munnings was featured on that list, several others owe larger sums. So why was Munning jailed for his unpaid taxes? We posed the question to Director General of the Belize Tax Service, Michelle Longsworth earlier today. Here’s what she had to say.

 

Michelle Longsworth, Director General, Belize Tax Service

“I’ll use the recent list of defaulters that we published. I can tell you that eighty percent of the taxpayers that were listed on that list have already come in and made satisfactory arrangement to pay off their taxes. And I say this because it is not everyone that we have to resort to further enforcement actions. If you come in and make satisfactory arrangement to pay, of course we will not seek further enforcement action. We won’t take you to court. We won’t apply to close your business because you are consistently making your arrangement to pay. So whilst people may look at that list and say how about the people who have who was more than Mr. Munnings? These people have already made arrangements to pay, so we will not pursue enforcement further because they are paying. Now, If they default and continue to default, we will take the same necessary actions that has been taken with Mr. Munnings. And I will say this here, Mr. Munnings is not the only person that is in this situation. There are others, but others before it’s just has not been out there in the public because when these persons or these taxpayers were taken to court to be remanded to jail, they found a way to meet with the tax department to make a deposit or to make some arrangement to pay and avoid it going to jail. So whilst this is out there that, oh, it’s him, he is the only one- that is not so. It’s just that other taxpayers, it has not gone public like this.”