The fourth in a series of public consultations on the draft Property Tax Bill was to have been held at the Adrian T. Hazell Primary School on Tuesday evening, February 26, but was called off. Not a single person from the South Hill/Blowing areas showed up.
Those who were present were one resident from East End; two media representatives and the two facilitators – Comptroller of Inland Revenue, Gecheal Richardson, and Finance Officer, Dr. Wycliffe Fahie.
Ms Richardson told the media that there were three previous public consultations so far – two at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium and one at the Adrian T. Hazell School. On all occasions only a handful of persons turned up. The next consultation is planned for East End on a date to be announced.
“We did three public consultations already and we were a bit disappointed that they were poorly attended, nevertheless the discussions held with those who were present were very helpful to us,” she said. “We appreciate the feedback we got from them because we were able to consider their views and to see how we can amend the law to suit.
“Basically, the Property Tax Reform Bill is looking at the general evaluation and to bring the properties to an up-to-date value. We are also looking at computerising the property tax system and to update the legislation. It is very much out-dated and doesn’t take into consideration what is actually happening in terms of property tax. In essence, we are looking to modernise the property tax system.”
The Comptroller of Inland Revenue said that property tax was not a very large contributor to the budget. She estimated that it was just about one per cent (or $4 million) of the 2013 budget which stands at 187 million dollars.She added that normally in other larger economies the bench mark for property tax accounts for 2% of GDP.
