Last week's issue (November 16, Volume No. 4079) of The Belize
Times, the official organ of the opposition People's United Party
contained an accusation headlined "BTB Covers Corruption in Hotel
Industry." In the article the Times stated the BTB was "...in a state
of crisis over the collection of millions of dollars of hotel taxes that
are in arrears." The Times discussed the collection of hotel tax being
awarded to accountant Cedric Flowers and then maintained that there "...
is a thriving racket whereby hotel owners pay certain officials big
protection money and then only send in to the BTB a small portion of the
taxes actually due. This is done with the knowledge and approval of high
level officials at the BTB..."
Private sector reacted this week with surprise at the seeming
blanket condemnation of the hotel industry by The Times. This week, the
BTB replied to The Times allegations as follows:
Press Release, November 18, 1997 - Belize Tourist Board - The Belize
Tourist Board (BTB) was astonished at the propaganda headline on the
front page of last week's issue of the Belize Times. It can only be said
that it is yet another unscrupulous tactic of the opposition to create
ill will against the government.
BTB announced to the hotel industry of the engagement of a private
accountant to conduct the assessment of taxes collected from hotels. BTB
does not and will not approve of any hotel who fails to comply with the
law and report inaccurate taxes. The BTB staff has never been
instructed not to audit a particular hotel(s) nor has the BTB hired an
attorney to terminate the contract with Mr. Flowers. To say otherwise is
an outrageous and blatant lie on the part of the writer. There is
absolutely no evidence to substantiate such a false claim. Since the
engagement of Mr. Flowers' services, the BTB had steadily and
consistently been collecting taxes which had been in arrears.
As for the case with Programme for Belize (PFB), under the previous
administration the BTB's policy was to treat it as a non-governmental
organization which did not act in the capacity of a regular tourist
accommodation but more as a learning center. BTB, under the current
administration, continued with this policy in reference to all such
organizations, however, as the new hotels act came into effect on
October 1, 1997 and in keeping in its efforts to maintain a professional
standard, the BTB decided that PFB would now have to be taxed as any
other hotel would be since advertising and operations now clearly
indicate same.
As the article poignantly stated, BTB is a statutory board. It has a
professional staff which is committed to bridging the communication
between private and public sector to ensure customer/tourist
satisfaction.
If the Belize Times is intent on creating illwill against the
government and its departments the least respectable and professional
thing to do is to make criticisms and accusations based on facts.
