By now, viewers should know about the General Sales Tax Department, and the Income Tax Department, and what they do.
These are the 2 offices under the Ministry of Finance which collect mandatory taxes revenues from all citizens so that, in theory, all Belizeans should contribute equally to the financial sustainability of the country's economy. General Sales Tax collects 12.5% revenue on all goods and services that have been deemed taxable under that regime. Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department taxes the salaries of all employees who meet a certain threshold with the total amount of their entire monthly pay.
These 2 departments are now merging into one mega tax-collecting entity known as the Belize Tax Service Department. With the amalgamation, this new department will seek to modernize the way they do business, so that you, the taxpayers, will get better service.
The merge officially started yesterday, and this morning, the tax officials invited the press to a ceremony for an official launch of the Belize Tax Service Department. 7News attended, and here's what the top officials had to say about the improvements to efficiency and service delivery that they want to now provide to the general public:
Michelle Longsworth - Director General, Belize Tax Service Department
"2019 Marks the historic launch of the amalgamation of the Income Tax Department, and the Department of General Sales Tax into the newly formed Belize Tax ServiceDepartment."
Lewin Samuels - Representative, Belize Taxi Service Department
"In October 2018, the program office of Modernization of the Tax Administration of Belize (MTAB) as established along with a program manager. This came with the promise for the establishment of a modern service-oriented tax administration that is integrated with other government and non-government stakeholders. The program has and will continue to introduce significant changes in legal, organizational, operational, and technological framework for administrating taxes in Belize."
Reporter
"This amalgamation today, those looking on may think to themselves that it seems to be a no-brainer that these departments should have been together a long time ago. Why is it that it took too long to get here today?"
Joseph Waight - Financial Secretary
"It's a change that requires a lot of preparation, a lot of research, funding, which is key, and we were able to line up some technical assistance from the CARTAC, which is the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Center. They spent hundreds of hours supporting us, and as importantly, we finally got funding from the IDB to purchase a brand new, modern, up-to-date tax administration system. So really, it was a question of funding, technical assistance, and also, it's a cultural change for us. As I said, we were one of the last in the Caribbean to do so, but we also have the benefit of learning from the missteps of others."
Lisa Clare - Representative, National Tax Service Department
"The modernization of our tax administration required 2 changes, the 2 components. And those 2 components required the integration of the Income Tax and the General Sales TaxDepartment. The second component required the procuring and implementing an Integrated Tax Administration System."
"What it has meant is that when there is the integration of Income Tax and GST, we no longer have taxpayers having to do separately at Income Tax and separately at GST. All the replicated functions will be merged, and there will be singled, unified processes. There will also be the high quality of taxpayer services, taxpayers are able to fulfill their task obligation, that of filing, paying, and doing so on time. Taxpayers now will have the ability to access and view their accounts online, which they are not able to do currently."
The Belize Tax Service Department is being implemented in a phased approach, which will be completed in 2022.
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