PM Explains Cattle Exportation Tax Waiver

Last month, Prime Minister John Briceño signed off on a new rule that gives a big break to new businesses exporting cattle to Mexico—they won’t have to pay business tax for two years. This tax exemption is meant to ease financial hardships for these exporters. We caught up with Prime Minister Briceño today, and he shared more about why this tax break is so important. He explained that exporting cattle to Mexico boosts Belize’s cattle market, helping it compete with Guatemalan cattle importers. He believes this tax break is crucial for the survival of both markets and benefits the ranchers. Here’s more on what he had to say.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“What has happened is that for a long time the cattle is being exported into Guatemala. Now, here in Belize, they break no law to export it into Guatemala. Obviously, we are negotiating an agreement in Guatemala to be able to formalize that. But, the people, they need the meat and they go with it. So, there’s no taxes that is being paid. Mexico came in. When Mexico came in, they want to have a long-term agreement with us to buy. They need a minimum of two thousand. That’s just for them to break even. They want to buy five, two thousand heads every month because of the competition, and I also have a cattle ranch and I remember in 2006, 2007 when we started off, we were being paid forty cents on the hoof, which means live. They pay forty cents. They weigh forty cents and they take the cattle. Today, because of the competition, because of them coming in, the Mexicans, now the price has gone up to over two dollars and fifty cents. So you imagine how much more, especially and then we have over five thousand small cattle ranchers. Eighty percent of them only have fifty heads or less. So that’s having a tremendous impact on their lives and helping them. But when you export to Mexico, you’re at a disadvantage. You have to pay the business tax so they can’t compete. It makes it easier for the Guatemalans to come and say, well, I’ll pay you a little bit extra more if you sell it to me. They want to drive the Mexican out of business, obviously, because once they do that, then they don’t have to pay two fifty or two seventy-five. They can go back and pay eighty cents. So it’s just good business sense for us as a country, to be able to protect the Mexican market. And that is why we removed the business tax to give them as best as possible a level playing field.”