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Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"Over the last 2 years we've looked at roughly five different proposals, I think all five of those proposals had their merit. Some of them had significant detractions, and negatives. We had the assistance of consultants coming in including, consultants sponsored by CARILED and sponsored by the IDB. We have had a significant amount of assistance from the office of the Prime Minister, in the person of Ambassador Gutierrez and Amilin Mendez. We've had tremendous support as I said from the Ministry of Local Government, and we've had a lot of input especially from the Chamber of Commerce. But one of the things we want to do is that we want to say, you know what, we've spoken for about 2 years on this issue, and we want there to be some benefit as a result of a two year conversation. So that what we are doing at this stage is that we are taking this to the public in relation to the proposal that we currently have on the table, which is that we will have a table of fees. One of the criticisms, is the emphasis on the rental value as being an imperfect system. The reform that we're proposing now is still based on rental value, but what we've done is we've come up with 18 ranges which commences from a microbusiness to an extra-large business, and what we've done is that we fixed the table so that you have these rather large ranges, and we have had a situation where wherever you fit in the table you will know that that is your fee because your fee is set. So that there is still some wins in relation to the proposal. Currently the system as it is laid out in the trade license legislation is that the fee is set by the board so that we have a board of which I chair, and we meet and we consider every single application, and the fee is determined based on 25% of your annual rental value."

"One of the things that we recognized in relation to the consultation is that the law is called the trade license fee. A fee means a certain thing, it is permissive for business entry, and a fee is really like a nominal sum, $100, $50, $200 when you look at this and the operation this, it's actually a tax. Because if you're talking about a business paying 260,000 per year, that's no fee, that's a tax. And essentially, owner occupied businesses, you're paying property taxes, which is based on your rental value, or the market value of your business, and you're paying trade license fee on that same basis so it actually amounts to double taxation because you're paying property taxes on the same basis even though the rate is different, on the same basis of the value of your premises, and for people who own their own business, you're being penalized double because you're paying the municipality twice on the same basis. So that what we want to accomplish by this regime is to get a proposal that is fixed, and the table is very simple, easy to understand and it sets your fee and that would afford members of our business community a substantial reduction, and in some cases people's reductions will be very high."

The next public consultation will take place on Wednesday at the YWCA. All business owners are urged to attend at least one of the consultations so that they can give their feedback on the changes, and are not caught off guard when they come into effect.