This evening at around 3:30, representatives of the Belize City Council went to shut down Discount King, the business at the corner of North Front and Queen Streets. That's because according to the City Hall, the business owner, Alfonso Silva, owed them just under 1 thousand dollars in tax arrears.
So, the CitCo representatives went to enforce an order from their financial department but it didn't go very smoothly because the employees were sure that their employer did pay – and they resisted. They even showed us a receipt.
So, the council workers called in police to help enforce the order, and they got the business closed for half hour. That's the amount of time that Silva took to pay cash to ensure that he didn't owe anything.
He told us this evening, that he is very sure that he doesn't owe anything but he paid so that he could operate his business until the end of the day. He said that he is going to the City Council's office tomorrow, where he will query with them if he does or does not owe any taxes.
Finally he stressed, that he does not want the impression given that he is fighting with City Hall. That's because even though he believes that they shouldn't have closed down his business, he acknowledges that a harmless error could have been created with their database personnel.
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