At the presentation of the budget on Monday, March 15, Prime Minister Barrow introduced legislation that changed the earnings threshold on income from ,600 to ,000. Therefore individuals making ,000 or less per month would not have to pay income tax. One month is accepted as four weeks, and based on the monthly payment plan no individual making 0 or less per week would have to pay income tax.
However, the Leader of the Opposition pointed out that based on the weekly payment system an individual making $500 would pay income tax if the
threshold is $24,000. Of course, he did this in a childish manner in front of cameras during the budget debate. Issues regarding wording of legislations are usually resolved when the Committee of the Whole House on Bills convenes. If he really wanted to be constructive he could’ve waited for this meeting to contribute his views. Perhaps he shouted it out on Thursday during the debate because he had already decided to boycott the Friday session.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister is not one to play politics in governance. He understands that not everything that comes out of a PUP’s mouth should be met with a deaf ear- maybe a very discerning ear but definitely not a deaf one. He decided to change the wording of the legislation so that it could work for individuals making weekly salaries as well. Therefore, the new earning threshold for income tax break is $26,000.       Â
The Guardian spoke with the Director of the Income Tax Department, Marilyn Ordonez, after the Prime Minister changed the threshold to $24,000. She explained to the Guardian that currently the taxpaying base stands at 60,691 persons. Of those 52,519 persons will be exempted from paying income tax; that represents 86 percent. Now that the threshold has increased to $26,000 another couple thousand people will be exempted from paying income tax.
The Prime Minister is serious about bringing relief to Belizeans wherever possible. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, he does not campaign every time a camera is around. The Legislative Assembly is the place where laws are debated, passed or rejected. Although the verbal blows are sometimes fun and the gotcha moments are memorable, at the end of the day the legislatures must legislate. Briceno delivered the statement about individuals making $500 or less as if the PM was trying to mislead people about his desire to relieve such individuals of paying income tax. Then he showed that he didn’t really care what happened to them by not taking part in the subsequent stages of the legislative process. However, the Prime Minister did accept his contribution.
PM Barrow also wanted to place import duty exemptions on diabetes and hypertension medications he spoke of in the House. It again shows that he does not care about lowering the cost of those items because the Prime Minister has requested for him to present the list of the items he is talking about and he has not done so as yet. PM Barrow said that he will let the Ministry of Health come up with such a list and the items will be exempted from import duties. Johnny Briceno wants to be Prime Minister of Belize, but he doesn’t want to show up for the job. He has no Shame!Â
