Prime Minister John Briceno says the Tax Department is evolving with the times

Prime Minister John Briceño has chalked up the transition of the Belize Tax Services Department (BTSD) to a statutory body as a decision needed to evolve with the times.  The government’s planned transition of the BTSD into a Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority (SARA) has become a point of contention with the Public Service Union (PSU), which represents the interests of some public officers currently attached to the unit. The union has voiced concerns over the past few weeks regarding the fate of these employees, alleging a lack of communication and unsatisfactory options for their future employment.  The government, however, has pushed back against these claims, with both the BTSD and the Prime Minister maintaining that the transition is a necessary step towards modernization and that no employee will lose their job.  In an interview today, the Prime Minister reiterated that position.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “Sometimes they create problems when there’s none. All they need to do is to sit down and to talk with the administration and see how we can move on. What we need to understand,  this world is not stagnant. There’s movements and we need to understand that organizations have to change, structures have to change and wanting to make the tax department now a semi autonomous institution is to move in the right direction. I think it gives more confidence to the institution in the minds of Belizean citizens saying that you know these people are not being politically motivated or politically driven they are doing their work and we need to give them the support to be able to collect the necessary taxes that we should collect. I’m not saying to be able to increase taxes but to collect what is there for us to collect. And we’re modernizing the institution and in modernization there are times that certain divisions might not be needed anymore. A simple example, we don’t think about it, 75 years ago most of our cargo in the city for instance in Belize city was moved by mule and cart. You know it’s no longer that. We had to use trucks. So what would we have done then? Oh we can’t bring in trucks because we will displace these people that own this mule and cart business, no. Things change, things evolve and so we need to keep up with the times and to be able to provide the best service possible to our citizens.”

PSU President Dean Flowers has been a vocal critic of the process, stating that the options presented to staff, to either resign, transfer to the wider public service, or transition to SARA, are not as straightforward as they appear. He has argued that requiring employees to reapply and interview for positions they already hold could be seen as a form of “constructive dismissal,” and that the new terms and conditions under SARA could negatively impact long-held benefits such as gratuity and pension. Flowers has also expressed worry about a lack of transparency, noting that the union has not been provided with a copy of the draft legislation governing the new authority.