AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye CRAFT VENDORS IN SAN PEDRO ASKED TO RELOCATE

Sorry, but I don't understand why it is the responsibility of business. Surely it is the responsibility of the community at large. It should also be the responsibility of the government to enforce all the laws uniformly including immigration, child labor, business registration, tax collection, etc. I think I can figure out your philosophy from the statement "make money from those that live here". Sounds a little Obama like to me.

I find it very sad and insulting that someone would use a community discussion about a very serious problem to take a pot shot at peope from the USA about USA politics. I am a business owner in San Pedro and I believe that all business owners in San Pedro are the people in a financial position to create change. Perhaps you aren't aware, but Belize is a very poor country and very few people earn enough money to pay taxes enabling the government to provide the sort of services you are suggesting. I've heard the figure that under 50,000 people in Belize earn enough to pay taxes. Given that the majority of people in Belize are children, this makes sense. I should add that it seems this campaign was spearheaded by business owners and therefore, I stand by my statement 'If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem'. There's nothing worse than a sense of entitlement and depending on the government to solve all your problems for you - but perhaps that is your own personal philosophy CaptOneIron.

Several of the business owners here have made suggestions. Unfortunately, we are not able to police the immigration and tax issues. My problem is that if some of the vendors are here illegally, and are working without licenses, then they are not only taking money and sending it to relatives outside of Belize, but they are taking jobs away from Belizeans. GST as I understand it, is payable by anyone running a business making $70,000.00 or more a year, excluding hotel rooms. The street vendors would most likely not make that amount, and therefore would not have to pay GST on their earnings.

While I realize that there are not enough seats for all the children to be in school in San Pedro, I also know that some of the children who have seats, are taken out of school by their parents during the school year, in high season, so that they can run the beach and sell bracelets. I have seen many of these children grow up, but I see new, smaller ones every day.

If they want to sell their items to tourists, then they should be in the country legally, and have a business license. The town council/community at large should figure out a way to make a sales space for them that is affordable, clean, and has bathroom facilities.

No one is suggesting that the vendors should get a free ride, only suggesting that they have an affordable, legal way to make a living, without depriving their children of an education, and going through the same immigration process that everyone else must go through.

Children, by law in Belize are supposed to be in school until the age of 14 or 15, I can't remember. But the same issue we have here is the same issue we have with many other things (i.e. tinted windows, speeding, etc).... THERE IS NO ENFORCEMENT of the rules.

I am all for the vendors continuing to sell their wares, but I believe that they should conduct themselves like every other business in San Pedro.

Some things that individuals and businesses can do if they care about this issue. 1. If you see a particular child working when they should be in school or in a vulnerable situation at night - tell the police and social services and then follow the case through to make sure that it has been dealt with appropriately, 2. Sponsor a child in one of the schools - many parents are not motivated enough to have their child educated to pay for it themselves, or for whatever reason, cannot. School is not free and scholarships are a vital necessity. When you do sponsor, just don't give money and walk away - insist that the child maintains good grades and liaise closely with the school, 3. Volunteer at one of the local schools in your spare time. The schools are struggling terribly. They are barely able to provide a basic education in many cases. They all need volunteers., 4. Explain to the parents of children who come to your business to sell wares or to beg that this is not acceptable and you will no longer allow them to do so on your property.

There are many other things that can be done and I'm hopeful that others will pipe up with other suggestions. The fact is that there is no enforcement - as Shuffles says and without help it isn't going to happen - and very little incentive to enforce - which is why those businesses and owners who see this happening on a day to day basis just can't depend on the authorities to resolve the problem.

If the shoe fit's then wear it. I didn't say depend on the government to solve problems. I said the community should solve the problem but the government should enforce the laws on the books. It is not always about money but sometimes it is about personal responsibility. If these people are from Guatemala or somewhere else and are here illegally then they should be deported. There is nothing worse than a sense that all the problems should be solved by a few people - in fact that is not democratic at all.
None of your tortured shibboleths will change the fact that if the laws are enforced equally then a big part of this problem would likely go away. As it is it probably encourages more people to come and abuse their children, abuse the business community and count on do gooders to lay the blame at someone else's feet.
So you can be sad, you can be insulted or anything else you want to be. I have said nothing out of line, nothing untruthful, nothing that could be construed as being part of the problem.
OK, you are the solution - go ahead!

Perhaps Mr. One Iron, you should read what I have written and perhaps you need to re read what you have written. Personal responsibility is just that. Put up or shut up. If you aren't doing something to help resolve the problem then you're not really contributing much to this discussion or this community.

Thomas Paine phrased it so succinctly: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

Talk, talk and more talk?

I think both sides are right. The biggest problem here (San Pedro) is indeed lack of tax revenues, but we should ask ourselves why that is so. The GST department (to pick one example) has a policy of checking on (auditing) only those businesses that have registered for GST. Those businesses which do not register, regardless of whether they should have done, operate freely. And as has been well publicised, property taxes are not collected from certain "connected" individuals (whose businesses tend to have the highest turnover), and often not from the others either.

Another reason tax revenues are low is crass inefficiency or simply corruption, which ultimately amount to the same thing. Many businesses do not pay their due taxes according to law because there is a local policy not to press them for payment. Often this is because the business owners have the right connections, or sometimes simply that the "authorities" are not competent at what they set out to do. There are numerous "specifics" to back this up, and it's dispiriting that "the elephant in the room" is so ignored.

And lastly, the local town council has not been properly audited for some nine years, even though an annual audit is a legal requirement. The central government authorities are well aware of this, but when challenged said that the reason they didn't conduct audits (other than the trivial checking of petty cash and the like) was that "the town board doesn't want to be audited". As they say, "when the cat's away...".