7 News Belize

GST Free Weekend Was A Commercial Success Depute Shysty Shopkeepers
posted (December 18, 2024)
And we also asked the prime minister his thoughts about the first ever GST free weekend. On Monday we showed you some of the hiccups - stores that didn't want to offer the promotion if you paid with a card, or stores that changed the date on the receipt.

But Briceno says it's kind of a good thing because now the Tax Department can monitor those stores that acted suspiciously last weekend. And he believes the coming weekend will be even better.

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I think that this GST weekend, GST free weekend I think has had some other unexpected.. win for the Belize Tax Department because then it allowed to see who are the ones that are questionable, what it is that they're doing with the reporting of the GST. I know some stores, they closed down, they didn't want to participate and you need to ask why. Or some of them coming out up with all sort of excuses, oh it's already in the price but yet they don't discount it in the invoices, so what that has done is that has alerted the BTS that we need to go and visit these businesses to see how they're managing their operations, probably do some audits to see if what they're collected is being reported back, if they're collecting it- I'm not suggesting they're doing anything wrong but it makes us question so I think from that end, I think something positive came out of it but most of all, our citizens were excited, they were saying in effect they're getting a 12.5% discount, or if you want to be very mathematical and take it from the dollar, take it down from that it's going to be a little less than- the point is you're getting a huge discount on your GST. And they're using that, that's extra money you can use to be able to have a good Christmas and we want to continue to work on that. On those hiccups, I imagine that the tax department has already gone to speak to some of these persons and to ensure that they do the proper recording of their GST so we believe it's a win win for everyone."

Reporter:
"Are you confident that this weekend will roll out without a hitch?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well I hope so. let's put it this way, it's going to be better than this first weekend so I think it will be better."

Reporter:
"You think it will happen again?"

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Actually when we're looking at it and analyzing it, I think it's something that we should do as a government. Why do I say that? One, you give a reprieve to our Belizean citizens during Christmas time when they need but secondly, they buy more, as opposed to going to Chetumal to buy, they spend the money here, so in effect our money stays at home and we will be able to collect even more taxes because more goods are being sold that pay taxes so I think it's a win win and I do believe when we do the final analysis, it will be something that we should be able to do Christmastime."

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