Dangerous clausesin Property Tax

JULIEN NEAVES

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said there are some dangerous provisions in the property tax legislation including having the finance minister select the members of the valuation tribunal.

“You cannot have ministers in this business,” she said while delivering the feature address at the UNC’s Monday Night Forum at the Don Miguel Hindu primary school in San Juan.

She said one of the provisions is to establish a valuation tribunal to replace the Tax Appeal Board.

She pointed out while the board had security of tenure and is selected by the independent Judicial and Legal Service Commission, members for its proposed replacement hired and fired by the Finance Minister Colm Imbert. “Little imps to do his bidding (is what members of this board will be). Something is fundamentally wrong with this process. You are going before the friends of the Minister,” Persad-Bissessar said. Saying the requirements for this tribunal is an attorney of ten years experience and two people with wide experience in property, Persad-Bissessar said the latter two could be, “any fly by night” person.

She reminded party faithful of the last time this Government attempted to introduce property tax, including forcing people to submit valuation forms, it was the UNC that fought and stopped them.

Persad-Bissessar said Government has promised an education programme on property tax but she asked, “where is this?”

She said the draft property tax legislation will punish people if they are not home for the assessment and if you do not pay, “they want to seize your home.”

On other national issues touched on in her address, Persad-Bissessar slammed the new vessel the Galleons Passage firstly for being selected by a committee of ministers and secondly for lacking a roof, toilets and having chairs shaped like those in the “pit” in old time cinemas. “These people cannot, cannot be serious.

This is the biggest scandal to rock T&T this year,” she declared.

Persad-Bissessar also reminded that this government which moved swiftly to end the school laptop programme is now making pronouncements that the schoolbags of children are too heavy and could damage their backs.