Barrow’s Christmas Bukut

Another Tax on Belizeans

With a smile on his face and no remorse or regret or shame anywhere on his countenance, Prime Minister of Belize Dean Oliver Barrow announced nonchalantly that he will be implementing a new garbage tax on Belizeans for the collection of household garbage. According to Barrow, he has decided to punish Belizeans so that the Belize City Council can increase its revenue base. There was no attempt at consultation with Belizeans, no move to soften the blow. Belizeans weren’t even properly informed about the Prime Minister’s decision, so to speak. He just blurted it out during an interview with Channel 7 in response to a question about the bankruptcy of the UDP City Council.

This is a trademark UDP move, punishing Belizeans at a time when our residents are already suffering the roughest of economic times. Even worse than that, the Prime Minister is making Belizeans pay for the incompetence of his own City Council. For more than a year now, the UDP City Council has been besieged by allegations of corruption, raping of taxpayer dollars, sweetheart deals, misappropriation of funds and mismanagement. Through all that time, the Prime Minister played deaf, dumb and blind as the public trough was bled dry. It is only in the last month because he and Zenaida were in the midst of a tremendous catfight that the PM attempted to rein in the reckless Mayor. By that time the coffers had run empty and the Council was bankrupt. If Barrow had bothered to act decisively from the beginning, the Council and the City wouldn’t be in the position they are today. Barrow is as much to blame as Zenaida for the wreck at City Hall. In fact, Barrow is more to blame because as the UDP leader and leader of the nation, it was his responsibility to step in and deal with the situation.

And even now, instead of dealing with the mess in City Hall effectively and ensuring that their affairs are put in order, Barrow instead has decided that Belizeans will need to dig even deeper into their pockets to remedy a UDP mess. Barrow has decided that he will try to remedy the symptom but leave the disease to spread.

Last year, the City Council had decided that it would implement a tax on businesses in order to increase revenues to the Council and deal with the garbage situation in the city. So businesses were taxed despite a public outcry – the Council is still broke and the garbage situation is completely out of control. To any mind with a little larger degree of sanity and rationale than that of Mr. Barrow, this would suggest that increased revenue is not the problem. The problem lies instead within City Hall. The problem rests in the hands of an incompetent, corrupt and greedy Mayor and a group of councilors who are content to simply collect their stipends and do nothing. But the Prime Minister doesn’t want to hear that. He wants to impose another tax on Belizean households to bring in more revenue.

Ramming in this new tax just weeks before Christmas is vintage Barrow and the UDP. Remember retrenchment, when almost 1000 public officers were sent home just before Christmas? The decision to implement a new tax at this time proves two things. Barrow is completely devoid of any ideas or plans on how to steer the ship of state through this sea of economic worries which has been exacerbated by his incompetence and his spendthrift policies. The only plan he can envision is to burden Belizeans more. And secondly, Barrow has absolutely no idea of the reality on the streets; no idea about the poverty and desperation and frustration of life under his administration. Barrow has truly become wrapped up in his own little millionaire world of luxury when he can so nonchalantly impose a new tax on already suffering Belizeans so that his corrupt and inept City Council can be bailed out.

As a vague gesture, Barrow also announced that he would be consulting with the UDP City Councilors to see if they would agree to reduce their stipends. The Belize Times sticks to its position that the stipends of the Councilors should have been cut from the very beginning. And after a serious lack of performance from the Councilors, it has become apparent that the stipends for the UDP Councilors should be taken away completely. Belizeans will remember that one of the manifesto promises of the PUP municipal team contesting the Belize City elections was that if elected, the Mayor and Councilors would immediately cut salaries and stipends. Barrow has simply adopted the PUP manifesto promise, though it is far too late and he has far too little political will to make it happen.

It will be interesting to see the reaction of poor Belizeans to this new garbage tax, very interesting.

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