San Pedro Daily
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Ambergris Caye, Belize Tuesday July 17, 2007 Belize's only Daily- Seven Days a Week |
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G.S.T. celebrates birthday with
$186M intake  It
may
seem odd that a government department that took in one
hundred and eighty-six million dollars of consumer’s money in the last
twelve months might try to keep that information on the down low, but
leave it to our good friends at the General Sales Tax office to
actually make us happy to pay up. The tax in question, of course, is
the G.S.T., which celebrated its first anniversary on July first.
Assistant Commissioner Cynthia Castillo says that consumers and
business people alike need to know the rules.Cynthia Castillo, Asst. Commissioner, G.S.T. “Business owners especially those registered for G.S.T. need to know their obligations under the tax. For example to file a monthly return, to keep proper books and records and for consumers we need to know when it is that we pay the tax. For example we’ve been advocating that consumers must first look for a G.S.T. certificate, it’s green in colour. If you do not see a G.S.T. certificate displayed permanently at a business place it is safe to assume that they are not registered for G.S.T. therefore do not pay the G.S.T.” Stewart Krohn “Are most businesses signed up for G.S.T. and are those that are signed up are they paying properly and on time?’ Cynthia Castillo “On G.S.T. implementation we had projected a registration base of two thousand and today we are almost two thousand six hundred. Yes, we have been out there and we have been registering those who we think should register; those who we think would meet the $75,000 threshold.” Of the total one hundred and eighty-six million dollars G.S.T. collected during the first year, one hundred and one million was paid through the Customs Department on imports while eighty-five million was generated domestically. Read More Chamber GM: Lord's
Solo Report 'Unfortunate'
 One party
that has an interest in seeing a more fitting outcome is the Chamber of
Commerce. The Chamber was with the unions in 2005 pushing for the
commission. Today General Manager Kevin Herrera says that it is
unfortunate that it has come to this.
Kevin Herrera, General Manager - Chamber of Commerce "I think it is unfortunate. I think the people of this country deserve an official report from the Commissioners involved and I think everybody has an interest in getting a proper report. Time should not be the only crucial factor here. I think the people of Belize deserve a proper official report from the Commissioners jointly." Jules Vasquez, But we won't have that apparently, unless something changes, because the Lord report has been officially handed in to the Cabinet Secretary and it is final. It is not a process you can reverse, once you hand it over, you have released it so there doesn't seem to be chance for a redo. Kevin Herrera, "Well I don't know that the Prime Minister has accepted it yet and I am hoping that perhaps he would not accept it and ask the Commissioners to submit a joint official report. They are saying that they need more time, let's give them more time. The important thing is that it be thorough and that it reflects the findings of the whole investigative process." Jules Vasquez, But the Prime Minister doesn't share your view. He wants it yesterday. He wrote on July 27th demanding it basically immediately and he is obviously trying to avoid it coming out during the election cycle. Kevin Herrera, "That's part of the issue. I think that we shouldn't get party politics into it. I think what was concluded in that investigation affected the people of Belize at the national level." As we noted earlier, the Prime Minister has accepted the Lord report and is expected to go through it shortly. Read More Belize Free of Exotic Newcastle Disease The Ministry of
Agriculture and Fisheries has placed its officers in
BAHA and the Department of Agriculture on alert following the report
this week from Honduras declaring an outbreak of exotic Newcastle
Disease in backyard chickens in the Copan Ruins area.
Belize is at the moment free of the exotic Newcastle Disease; but given the proximity of Honduras to Belize and the active movement of people and goods between both countries, it is necessary to step up inspections at ports of entries and strengthen surveillance activities, particularly in the southern districts of Stann Creek and Toledo. Honduras reported an outbreak of Newcastle Disease in native backyard chickens of all ages in Estanzuela Sinai and Copan Ruins, Copan. The outbreak was diagnosed clinically and confirmed by post-mortem and laboratory findings. The affected birds included 150 chickens, 120 hens and 30 roosters. 1067 other birds were destroyed by Honduran authorities to contain the disease. It is believed that the outbreak was due to the illegal movement of animals. The affected village is quite close to Guatemala. Control measures implemented by Honduras include movement control, quarantine, stamping out and vaccination. Read More NOTICES/LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Scheduled Power
Outage
Date: July 19, 2007 Time: 6:00am - 10:00am Affected Areas: Coconut Drive/ Sea grape Drive REASON: Remove HV pole in middle of street From Bowen (Distributors) to Royal Palms Resort including, Belize Yacht Club, Exotic Beach Resort, Royal Palms, Banana Beach, Grand Colony, Banyan Bay, Xanadu, Perla Escondida, Woody's, Castillo's, PL Development THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
A
brief candle; both
ends burning Charlie Daniels |
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