By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE OPPOSITION is again calling on Minister of Finance Colm Imbert to have a heart regarding the property valuation return forms that has a November 30 deadline submission date.
On Tuesday, Opposition Members of Parliament Davendranath Tancoo and Saddam Hosein hosted a press conference to speak on the matter.
Holding up a document that is being shared on social media with instructions from the ministry, Tancoo said, “This document is what I consider a slap in the face of the citizens of this country in the middle of a pandemic.”
He added, “To add insult to injury it is stated in the third line of the notice “failure to comply with this requirement constitutes a criminal offence which is punishable by a fine of 5,000.”
“Like a thief in the night the minister pounces on the unsuspecting population, jacks them up and demands that they hand up their information otherwise it is criminal charge and a fine of $5,000. That my fellow citizens should be a crime!” Tancoo declared.
Explaining the form and its requirements, Tancoo said the technical form that is seven pages long required a variety of information that most persons will not have easily available to them.
Tancoo said, “It is almost as if the Government is deliberately setting out to make these forms difficult to complete so they can punish citizens with fines.”
He also questioned why no announcement was made concerning the valuation forms when Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley hosted a press conference last Saturday.
When citizens were reeling financially from the pandemic, farmers suffering after major flooding, many homeowners are trying to recover from property damage from adverse weather conditions, it was horrendous that government would embark on such a measure, the Oropouche West MP said.
He said although the Ministry of Finance has clearly stated that the valuations were not the Property Tax, which has been strongly opposed by the Opposition, it seemed to be a step in that direction.
He said, “The law requires the minister to have more than half of the properties in Trinidad and Tobago, assessed and valued, before he can introduce the property tax.”
He predicted, “So when the Minister of Finance publishes this demand, he is doing so with the clear intention of slapping citizens with the property tax in the very near future.”
Imbert was fully aware of all the financial pains of the population but instead of trying to find ways to ease the burden of adjustment, he was creating more expenses for already struggling businesses and for the average citizens, Tancoo said.
Tancoo also questioned why there was no mention of industrial properties in the document.
“I am curious as to why Minister Imbert has deliberately left out assessment of industrial land from this assessment because industrial land was listed at a 6% tax rate which is the highest rate of applicable property tax,” he said.
The deadline he said was also impractical given the thousands of properties in the country.
And Tancoo said while many persons may oblige to filling out their forms, they may not be able to meet the deadline.
Hosein gave a breakdown of the law as it relates to property tax at the conference.
