The family of 53 year old Francisco Shol is tonight preparing for the funeral for the father 10 in Punta Gorda.
As we reported, Shol was outside the PG Sports Bar on Thursday night where he is was allegedly beaten up by off duty police. The officers were not assigned to Punta Gorda - but drove a police vehicle. They allegedly cracked his skull and caused internal bleeding.
They dragged his body into the police truck, took him to the hospital and left there. He was not treated and started to walk home. On his way, he collapsed in a drain and was found dead the next morning.
Police are investigating but have not made any arrests - and incredibly have not issued any press release on the death.
Mayor Defends Trade License Increases
It's well known that the Belize City Council is implementing a residential garbage tax - to help cover the costs of the Municipal Bond. But, businesses are complaining that they are being taxed twice because their trade license fees are also being revised upward.
As we've reported, businesses have complained that their trade licenses have increased by anywhere form 30% more to 250% more!
A survey of a portion of the members of the Chamber of Commerce show that 90% are reporting that their trade license went up and 80% of those saying that they never knew it would go up.
But the City Council has said it is not a revenue increasing measure. Yesterday the Mayor said that there is an argument to be made, but the argument would have to be that the tax rate is too high:
Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City Council
"They problem is that the Trade License Act provides a rate that is too high, and I've always said that. I said it at the bond, that the Trade - but nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody really wants to talk about how you change laws to make it conducing to stimulating economic growth. But, they want to talk about, 'Okay, I got an increase.' The reality is that every single person who got an increase, that can be justified in accordance with the law, because what we're doing at the City Council is, if this is what the law says, we apply it across the board, irrespective of any person. And in that kind of environment, people will feel a kind of hit, but really, what we need to do is that we need to dialog with the Chamber of Commerce, the Central Government, and the Chamber of Commerce is an organization who should take the lead on this dialog because they are a private sector organization. As it relates to, how can we structure laws that are conducive and stimulating of the economic climate? And that's why what we try to in respect to the equalizing of the trade license rolls. We may have done it in a way that was not friendly because it's a hit, and I know it's a hit. We are trying to, at the same time, collect tax, but we are also trying to encourage business, but we are fully prepared to sit down with any single entity. The Central Government has been very willing to work with us in terms of the legislative changes. We have spoken about it at the Mayors Association at several meetings. We've put together a concept paper, and we want to engage with persons. But the discussion cannot be that my trade license is too high. The discussion has to be, how we put in place the necessary framework, because if the law says that we charge 25%, then any city council has to charge the required rate."
The Mayor says the standard rate of trade license is 25% of the rental fee and that rental fee is set by the business owners.
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