I ordered solar system batteries which cost $2600 BZD. The customs broker calculated the fees to be about $2900 for my batteries to be released. So basically the government has increased the tourism fees 200% and stole my batteries. So glad that I did not purchase property here. All these homes for sale with no liquidity which means they are near worthless in terms of marketability unless being used as primary home. The scams I heard about regarding property purchases and the Belize government shaking down the white folks for extra cash are true. Belize government changes the rules to suit their greedy hands. The shake down money never lands in the poor common Belize folk . The businesses are primary owned by foreigners who are treated like garbage for investing in this scam country. Learn Spanish and move to mexico.
Belize balancing their checkbook on the back's of white folks
Trust me, this is not a problem just in Belize. Im in Thailand at the moment where the government has just APPROVED a measure to introduce a 4 tier pricing system for health care with people on retirement visas paying almost double what locals pay even though they are usually paying more in tax than the locals and have, buy law, to have just over 20,000 GBP in their Thai account ALL THE TIME. They are also NOT allowed back into the country at the moment, so if they happened to be outside the Kingdom when lockdown began they haven't been allowed back to their homes and families for 4 months.
Everywhere here has dual pricing, want to take your Thai wife and kids to a nature reserve, great, you (as a "farang" ) can pay 10 TIMES the price paid by a Thai, whether you have a Thai wife, driving licence etc. no matter - "You rich falang, you pay more!" As a foreigner it is nearly impossible to actually own land here or property unless you have a Thai partner (wife or business). Getting citizenship is a pipe dream and even after living here 20 years you will still be required to report to the immigration office every 90 days to get them to stamp your passport.
All over the world expats are living in countries, sometimes for years, often married to locals and with chilldren by them, supporting the local economy, helping improve the education of the local kids, but in some countries (like here) that is just not enough. When government ministers can, on several occassions, refer to foreigners (note, that's Western foreigners, not the Chinese. You know the expression land of the rising sun? The Thai government seem to believe this happens every time the Chinese bend over and drop their pants) as "filthy", "disease spreaders" you know you're not welcome, your money is, but you're not.
Its seams pretty simple to me!
If you don't like it, leave!
Does the thread title mean a black US citizen won't get ripped off?
Racism, even made up BS racism, is pretty rubbish.
I am wondering if this applies to all foreigners or do make any distinction. I am black British and hope to retire in Belize - is this a big problem in Belize?
maybe some of the other Caribbean islands may be more promising?
All governments are constituted from the same kind of parasite. They don't have the skill to make $$ honestly. So they practice their skills at lying till they are good enough at it to get elected. They are all pigs feeding at public expense. The differences between countries are but a matter of degree IMHO. Sorry they took you for so much money.
Jamo1107 wrote:I am wondering if this applies to all foreigners or do make any distinction. I am black British and hope to retire in Belize - is this a big problem in Belize?
maybe some of the other Caribbean islands may be more promising?
It may be other countries ["Islands" - which Belize is not] are less inclined to rip you off. I've been searching for an ideal place to land in my retirement so I can live on my meager budget and have found enormous differences from one country to the next although most of Central and South American countries seemed inclined to make you pay very high tariffs on electronics. It's the rule, not the exception. The differences tend to be in allowances for personal use, how often and how much. I remember bringing an HP laptop into Brazil for a girlfriend and paid about $650 for it US. Saw the same item on sale in Brasil with a Portuguese OS and it cost $1750 US.. same hardware, only the OS language was different.
As to the reasonable question you ask about being subjected to the same vampire like tariffs and taxes as a black person, the answer is of course. As the English Gent points out on this thread, Expats are treated like visitors to Vegas. If you're here, you must have money to burn, so cough it up.
The idea by white people that they are targeted by this kind of predatory behavior, it's true as often as not when you are in a foreign Latin American Country with an accent and a white face everyone around you assumes you have more money than they do and are always willing to charge you "gringo" prices. It is a white face tax imposed on foreigners IMHO. I don't believe the person starting this thread intended to suggest you have a legal out for wearing a black face. I think the comment was not racist as has been alluded to here. I think the comment is out of disgust from being treated badly by locals and their Government in particular.
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