Belize~ Chicken and Tax reform

The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not necessarily those of Breaking Belize News.

This article was written by Richard Harrison, Belizean investor in production and services businesses in Belize. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Lancaster University.

By Richard Harrison: I understand that Belize consumes around 400,000 chickens per week @ average 3.5 lbs per chicken @ average of $3/lb retail price.

This is a retail market of around $218 million per year.

This is about 5.5% of the official declared GDP of Belize of BZ$4 billion

At 4.5 pounds of feed per pound of edible meat, this means that 327 million pounds of feed is utilized, at average BZ$0.46/lb is BZ$150 million

2/3 of chicken feed is comprised of corn, therefore 216 million pounds of corn is utilized….such that at current bulk price of BZ$0.245/lb amounts to BZ$53 million worth of corn.

At an average yield of 6,000 lbs per acre, it thus takes 36,000 acres of land to produce corn for the poultry industry.

If the pump price of diesel is reduced by $1/gal it would lower the cost of production of corn by $0.01/lb.

If only 10% GST were charged on fuel (no other taxes), the pump price of diesel would be reduced by $3.50/gal…which would allow the price of corn to be reduced to $0.20/lb and the price of poultry feed reduced to $0.38/lb…and the price of chicken to $2.60/lb…saving chicken processors $26 million….and consumers $29 million per year.

Since the GOB currently charges only 1.75% Business Tax and ZERO GST…the total tax on the industry is only $3.8 million.

If Business Tax were reduced to 1% and a GST of 10% were charged on chicken, the BT revenue would be $2.18 million and GST would be $21.8 million, totalling $23.98 million per year….an increase of $20 million in revenue.

The processors would make more profit as costs are reduced by $26 million, and taxes only increased by $20 million…so they end up with $6 million more per year.

GOB current revenue from their 45% tax on fuel is around $90 million per annum….and just the chicken industry would be paying $20 million towards the elimination of this destructive tax.

Belize needs wholesale tax reform to create an economy that is more competitive and more productive.

This analysis proves that producers, consumers and GOB will benefit greatly by charging only 10% GST across the board (no other tax on fuel)…and by reducing the Business Tax from 1.75% to 1% across the board.