Checking in via internet cafe in San Pedro. I read
the posts re: the BTB (Belize Tourist Board)
harassment of Wendy. I have neither the
time nor the inclination (at $9 US per
hour!) to read the laws again, so I will
respond off the top of my head. I'll
revisit the law when I return home.
I have always paid the tourist tax on my
rentals. My condos are registered
with the BTB and I believe they always
have been; my managers have always
handled that. I pay a fee every year for
that as well as the tourist tax.
I don't recall the law on what is and
isn't a "hotel" but to the best of my
understanding, one does not have to be a
"hotel" to incur the liability to pay
the 7% tourist tax. My understanding is
that if you rent ANYTHING in the way
of accommodations to the tourist market
you must charge and pay this tax for
your rentals. Obviously if you are
renting to long term tenants the tax is not
applicable, but I think Wendy is going to
have to pay it if she is renting to
tourists; ie: short term rentals. Of
course, Wendy should seek guidance from a
Belizean lawyer but that is my
understanding.
The conduct of the BTB is clearly
harassment. If they believe that Wendy
should be paying the tourist tax on her
rentals and isn't doing so, the proper
way to handle it is by letter and a
request for payment, not sending goon
squads.
Furthermore, the purpose of the "tourist
police" to my understanding is to
prevent crimes against tourists and to
quickly apprehend any criminals who rob
or defraud tourists. Use of the tourist
police to threaten an accommodations
owner for alleged failure to comply with a
tax requirement is misuse of public
employees and funds (what else is new?)
Obviously Wendy is a target for her
political outspokenness (and because
somebody "connected" wants her land.)
This kind of treatment is indeed why we
are focussing future activity and
residence in Panama. We do not want our
limited assets to be at the mercy of
political hacks, goon squads, corrupt
politicians and unjust courts, and we cannot
afford them to be. At this point we plan
to keep the condos but if we at some
point find that our ability to make a
return on them (after ten years of
mortgage payments) is threatened by
confiscatory and arbitrary policies, we
will sell them.
Wendy is Belizean and has a heritage and
family in Caye Caulker, and of course
she has good reasons to stay and fight for
justice, but foreign investors at
the small scale level are starting to pull
out of Belize due to the growing
perception that the lack of fair laws and
transparency puts small investors at
risk. The real estate agent we bought our
land in Panama from tells me that he
is getting quite a bit of business from
people who have or had interests in
Belize and are leaving due to these kinds
of concerns as well as others. Of
course big investors whether foreign or
native born who can afford
to "contribute" to the pols don't have
this problem since they can buy their
way out of anything. It's the little guy
who gets nervous.
Editors Note: The big money Chinese from
Hong Kong and Taiwan have already sold out and left
Belize, for the most part, with minor exceptions.
Belize's loss is Panama's gain and that of
Costa Rica. It will take a political revolution to
change things in Belize to foster development. Under
the current political structure widespread development
by many small new immigrant investors is simply too
precarious and nearly impossible.