Department of General Sales Tax
ZERO RATED GOODS
(TAXED AT ZERO PERCENT – NO GST ON THESE GOODS AS OF APRIL 1, 2010)
UNPROCESSED FOODS:
Rice, Flour, Corn, Fresh Meat (Mammal, Bird, or Fish), Edible Offal of Bovine Animals, Swine & Sheep, Eggs, Beans, Fresh Fruits & Vegetables (Locally Produced) Salt, Fresh Milk (Locally Produced), Tea
PROCESSED FOODS:
Bread, Corn & Flour Tortilla, Sweet Bread & Bun (Locally Produced), Cooking Lard, Margarine, Baby Formula, Sugar, Condensed Milk, Powdered Milk, Cooking Oil, Instant Coffee, Chicken Sausages (Canned), Corned Beef (in Cans), Yeast, Oats, Luncheon Meat, Potted Meat, Chocolate Powdered Drinks, Macaroni & Cheese, Cereals, Percolated Coffee, Edible Meats of Swine Salted or in Brine (e.g. Pigtail), Edible Meats of Bovine Animals, Salted or in Brine (e.g. Salt Beef), Soup & Broth in Solid or Powdered Form (including Ramen), Preparations of Malt Extract, Any Live Bird, Fish, Crustacean, Mollusk or other Animal of a kind Generally Used as, or Producing, Food for Human Consumption
EDUCATIONAL ITEMS:
Notebooks/Exercise Books, School Bags, Pencils, Crayons, Lead Pencils, Erasers, Pencil Holders for Use in Schools
MEDICINE:
Analgesics (Pain Killers) – Liquids, Tablets, Capsules or Solid Dosage Forms for Oral or Rectal Use, Cough & Cold Preparations (Liquid, Tablets, Capsules, or Solid Dosage Forms for Oral or Nasal Use, Diagnostic Testing Kits And Devices to Test Glucose in Blood and Urine, Insulin, Insulin Syringes with Needles and Devices 100 Units, (1.0ML) Capacity, for the Administration of U-100 Insulin, Oral Re-hydration Salts & Solutions of W.H.O./ Pharmacopoeia Standards, Oxygen, Dialysis Fluids, Anti – Retroviral Medicines, Vitamins and Supplements
HOUSEHOLD ITEMS/SUPPLIES:
Stoves/Rangers/Cookers, Refrigerators (Domestic Use), Laundry Washing Soap Powder
AGRICULTURE:
Barbed Wire, Spare Parts for Tractors, Irrigation Pipes & Hoses, Cable for Banana Industry, Hatching Eggs, Concentrated Animal Feeds (Bovine & Swine), Animal Feeds for Bird, Fish, Crustaceans, Mollusks & Other Animals, Seed & Means of Preparation of Plants Used to Produce Foods That are Zero-Rated, Sugar Cane Loading Machines, Land Propagation for Agriculture, Harvesting and Crop Dusting Services, fertilizers, Pesticides, Fungicides and Herbicides
Happy to see Shanon , we missed Shawn this trip .
UTILITIES:
A Supply of Water (Other Than Bottled Water or Similar containers) or Domestic Sewerage Services, Butane Gas for Domestic Use
OTHERS:
Frames for Eye Glasses
Tropical storm Agatha
This is my favorite veggy boat to date . They come from Sareneja by boat and spend 4-5 days here and sell till they are out of product . I am buying green peppers for 1.50 U.S. a pound . Potatoes , tomatoes and onions he sells for $1.25-$1.35 U.S a pound . Nice family
2 Lots located the end of the island 125K each , financing possible . Most Southern point of Yucatan 
My super telephoto lens 
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago at 10:51 am. Add a comment
Written By Tim
Sunday afternoon Tina and I were coming back from a resort up north. I saw the bells and whistles and could not resist. Well it turns out the neighbors were trying to get rid of an African bee hive by lighting it on fire. The fire fighter Myvid, was very professional and of great service.
Personally I like to be present to see that everything goes as planned, I can remember the days when we could not get the truck to the scene. Sometimes when we did get the truck to the scene, the pump ” wouldn’t work” (bummer).
These day we are having huge success with the government and private sectors working together shoulder to shoulder. Here in San Pedro we don’t say, ” we pay taxes”, we all chip in (money time or labour). I can remember the days of the bucket brigade to put out fires, one 5 gallon bucket at a time. Everyone would get in a assembly line and hand the buckets person to person till the fire was out. Many of these times we would have the truck sitting on the sideline with a broken pump or….
Since our property taxes are cheap (couple hundred bucks a year), we all come together and help when needed. This is what makes San Pedro so special, we deal with it as a community.
This guy here helps the fire fighter adjust the pump while he puts the fire out and swats bees. Everything is under control here, had a nice chat. They say, soapy water kills bee’s, (honestly) keeps them from flying and they die (try at your own risk) ??
About 12 years ago we had a store catch fire on front street, across from Ruby’s. The fire truck responded but the pump did not work. I slept threw the whole thing. When Tina and I woke, we could see the black smoke bellowing from town. We of course went to see what we could do, the fire was just about out. There was a team of people that were tired and beat and dirty from handing bucket after bucket all night till the fire was out from the sea. There was not much water pressure from the city, because; the neighboring households were trying to keep their homes from catching fire. The houses are so close we could have lost that whole block of buildings. To make a long story longer (NO INSURANCE or very little), the community donated money supplies and labor and we built the store/ house back before Christmas. This was an amazing experience for me, never have I seen such love and generosity like this before.
I get chocked up thinking about it, this is why I chose Belize (the community)! When people compare Belize to other countries they fail to realize, they are not comparing apples to apples .
Posted 12 months ago at 10:18 am. Add a comment
Written by Tim
Tina and I have been living throughout the Caribbean now for over 20 years. Small countries and islands have a difficult time producing and delivering consistent water and electric. When living on an island you are at the mercy of the utility companies. Saint Croix really tested my sense of humor with the power outages and loss of water. We would drive home from work to find no power or water, “what a bummer”. The electric company would repair the problem after rotating the power (every 5 Hours) between the towns of Christiansted and Fredricksted. They would fix it, but; you always knew it was just a matter of time before it was off again.
Here in Belize, we get our electric from the fifth largest country in the world, Mexico. Mexico can generate power cheaper and better than any Caribbean country.
San Pedro is hooked to the Mexico grid, the power runs through the country and then under water to the island. If there ever is a problem, Belize has its own generating plants for back up. If Belize were to generate their own power it would be twice the cost with many break downs (no different from other small Caribbean countries) .
( look what I found very common. Just-goggled power outage ) http://www.travel-roatan.com/moving.htm ++ http://www.nowpublic.com/world/power-protests-rattle-roatan
Running a generator gets costly and old quick .
(Electric is one of my favorite utilities!)
People love Belize because it is convenient and fun. I have not lost Internet or water or electric for years. We have had some scheduled outages for a couple minutes here and there. We actually had a problem and they were switching from Mexico to Belize power, and it went very well!
San Pedro has a top of the line desalination water plant, which supplies fresh water to the island (it has been working for years with no interruptions).
The island has 6-7 major grocery stores and a lot of small ones; we also have businesses that deliver chicken, beer, water, soda to our house.
We have good schools, police, fire, and general medical. Doctors make house calls for a moderate price (50U.S), we don’t abuse this service. The community is very much involved in upgrading of services. We have local dentist, and we have dentist, from the states, that come on a semi yearly basis to help out with the school kids of San Pedro (wonderful people). Cuban eye doctors come and do free examinations, terrific service provided. If they can’t fix the problem here, they normally will fly the citizens to Cuba for medical help (everything free). One of my friends went years ago and had emergency cataract surgery, great time and wonderful people he said.
We have many U.S. doctors coming down and helping with the development of services threw our new Poly Clinic. Once you get here, It won’t take long for you to see the island is a family oriented place, scattered with retirees, and now a younger 40-50 crowd.
Having lived in different parts of the Caribbean it gives me insight that not many have. I don’t take the services for granted, clearly we are blessed. Many places in the states don ‘t have these types of services.
This information is imperative for an investor to know. This trend shows no sign of slowing; Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama had their chance, now it is time for Belize .
Really surprised it took so long for the secret to get out. Belize will continue to be the place to be, for sometime. There is no inheritance tax, no capitol gains, no racial tension, tax free retirement program, international banks, very low property tax, and reasonable immigration policies. When choosing a Caribbean residence it is paramount you analyze Infrastructure, Services and Community.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:15 pm. Add a comment
CFE UNABLE TO PROVIDE BEL
WITH FIRM ENERGY
Belize Electricity Limited says it is working to secure sufficient energy supply to meet the country’s peak demand of over 74 megawatts after the company received a notice from Comision Federal de Electricidad of Mexico that it will not be able to supply BEL with firm energy for the next four months beginning May 8.
BEL says during the dry season it purchases as much as 43 megawatts of firm capacity from CFE.
BEL says in its notice CFE explained that damage to major generating equipment in central Campeche following the total system outage yesterday has severely limited its capacity to provide firm energy to the Yucatan Peninsula which has forced that company to suspend the firm energy supplied to BEL. This damage was responsible for a national power outage in Belize.
BEL says it currently sources power from hydroelectricity, the West Lake Generating facility, diesel generating plants in Belmopan and Caye Caulker and from mobile units. BEL goes on to say that since hydroelectric production is less than it is in the rainy season, BEL will continue to use local generation sources efficiently to minimize possible power outages. BEL ends its release by encouraging customers to continue practicing energy conservation.
What the heck does this mean,cut us off in 5 Days.
This is what I woke up to on May 1st, (crap power just went out 3:26 afternoon). Upload now!
We get our power from Mexico, they can produce it cheaper. We actually have a power line that travels threw Belize, then to island under water to this location for disbursement. We used to generate our power hear on island with a huge generator, which is now out of commission.
The old days we could watch the voltage changes by looking at a light bulb. We used to joke about it all the time. when the power would go out my buddy Charlie from Estels would say” GREAT,look at the money we are saving “. Here in the Caribbean your sense of humor can be your most valuable asset.
Well I was not laughing when I heard the news. Immediately kicked into assessment mode, 5 days left. I started networking, fortunately we have a friend with in the company that gave us the poop- scoop. After the conversation we were relieved to find out they are not turning us off, completely. We still decided to upgrade our generator, these days it does n’t matter where you live the states or here a generator is nice to have.
What happened was Belize had worked out a contract at a nice price for power from Mexico. I forget some of the terms, in a nut shell. They did not have a contract for FIRM power, they were selling us power from a hydro power which relies on mother nature like, wind . They had problems supplying power to their country during peak hours. They also burned up some of their equipment which now, needed replacing. They agreed to sell what they could .
Our electric infrastructure is basically new,but we were not generating power much anymore. My question was could Belize do it.? Could Belize generate power to supply threw out the country? We would not know until they threw the switch.
Having Mexico provide power is a great option.Living in small countries in the Caribbean struggle at times to provide consistent utilities. Mexico is a huge country and they had to make that great investment in power plants. They can produce it cheaper with a better consistency.
Living in St. Croix (U.S.V.I.) , you would think would be better, it wasn’t. Outages were something we lived with,one every other week 4-6 hours, no warning . It is not easy to produce electricity effectively for a small Country like Belize or a island.Being next to Mexico has been a true blessing,I have not realized this till now. 
YES, Belize Electric did it, we can generate our own power if we ever need to for lengths of time. Little inconveniences considering, but; well worth that clean regulated voltage power. Please see note on fridge(off),we would use this to keep track. The power would go off in the morning((5 min) at 8 am (Which is 9 am Mexico) peak time. Belize would then switch to their gen. systems and run till 4pm our time (5pm Mexico time) then switch over again(5 min).
I am so happy we have good infrastructure,always thought we did.
Belize passes the test,keep up the good work B.E.L.
Tina and I took Jason and Ti for a beautiful Sunset.This was the best it got last night, bummer.
We had a great boat ride, conversation and drinks. Jason and Ti we dedicate this pic below taken the night before to you both, enjoy the sunset. Luv ya T&T
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 9:29 am. Add a comment
Tropic Air San Pedro did an excellent job,the building looks good. Really pleased that they made the situation better by the road side. Picking up and dropping was a challenge during busy times.
