BELIZE - BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES TV PROGRAM THIS WEEK SUCCESSFUL.

Old TV program panel discussion photo.


BELIZE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE - BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES HAD THREE EXPORTERS FROM BELIZE.

You could see the chair person was out of her depth. Didn´t really know the questions to ask. All three panel people were good in explaining their business export problems.

The HIGHLIGHTS were the suggestion we make BELIZE a total FREE ZONE as a country. Do away with INCOME TAX, IMPORT DUTIES AND EXPORT DUTIES. That would certainly do it. I´m not sure I would like to live in the manufacturing country that would develop from that though. The only role model I know of would be St. Maarten in the Eastern Caribbean and understand they have been that way successfully for 50 or more years. Warehouses dot the landscape and inventory from around the world, which is then shipped to South American countries mostly. To make that work in Belize, the government would have to operate on GST tax revenues almost alone. Perhaps tax on oil exports as well. This idea has been around for more than 30 years, but no Port Town controlled Belize government by the ROYAL CREOLES has shown any interest in such a thing.
Port authority charges for moving containers, in or out, $1700 to $1800 was quoted - WOW ! There is a problem right there.
Nice to see a meaningful discussion on the panel for once without the biases of the port town merchant aristocracy.
It was a start with floating realistic ideas on making Belize a wealthy country.