Tax workers walk out over SARA as PM is out of country on personal leave

By Breaking Belize News Staff: Employees of the Belize Tax Service Department (BTSD) in Belmopan walked out of work on Wednesday morning in protest of the controversial Revenue Authority Bill, which seeks to transform the department into a Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority, commonly referred to as SARA.

Channel 7 Belize reported the walkout on Wednesday morning as the long-running dispute between tax workers and the government moved into a new phase of industrial action.

The protest also comes while Prime Minister and Minister of Finance John Briceño is out of the country on personal leave. Channel 7 reported that Briceño departed Belize on Tuesday afternoon on a flight to Houston, shortly after returning from an official visit to Honduras, and is reportedly expected to remain away until early next week. As Minister of Finance, Briceño has been one of the principal government figures defending the SARA transition and the Revenue Authority Bill.

The action comes only days after the House of Representatives passed the Revenue Authority Bill despite strong objections from the Public Service Union (PSU), which represents affected public officers. Prior to the House vote, the union called on tax service employees to “stand ready” for possible action if the legislation continued to advance in its present form.

Government says SARA is intended to modernize tax administration by giving the authority greater flexibility to recruit specialized personnel, operate on a performance-based system and improve tax collection and compliance. Prime Minister John Briceño has argued that the present public-service structure limits the department’s ability to recruit and retain specialized employees. Government has also insisted that the legislation does not introduce new taxes.

However, the PSU has raised several objections. Among its most serious concerns is the governance structure proposed in the bill. PSU President Dean Flowers argues that the legislation leaves SARA’s seven-member board largely in an advisory role while giving the Minister of Finance significant authority over the appointment and removal of the authority’s chief executive. Flowers has warned that the arrangement does not provide sufficient institutional independence or checks and balances.

There are also long-running concerns about the effect of the transition on employees’ public-service status, pensions, gratuities, allowances and other accumulated benefits. Government maintains that there will be no job losses and says existing employees will have an opportunity to transition to SARA, while those who do not wish to do so can be redeployed elsewhere in the Public Service. Government has further said accrued benefits will be protected.

The PSU has also questioned the financial justification for establishing another authority. Flowers says millions of dollars have already been spent modernizing and amalgamating Belize’s tax administration and has challenged government to produce data demonstrating why another major restructuring is necessary and how the additional operating costs will be financed.

Another major source of friction has been the consultation process. The PSU says it submitted detailed recommendations and concerns but that a promised follow-up meeting never occurred and its submissions were not properly presented to the parliamentary committee considering the legislation. Briceño has disputed that account, arguing that the union failed to make its case at the appropriate stage of the parliamentary process.

The dispute over SARA stretches back to 2025, when the PSU formally declared a trade dispute over unanswered questions surrounding the proposed transition. Wednesday’s walkout represents one of the clearest signs yet that opposition among affected tax service workers is moving from negotiations and public statements to direct industrial action — and it comes at a time when the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance is away from the country.

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