Property tax on equipment really unfair

THE EDITOR: It was interesting to hear a recent opinion from Gabriel Faria, CEO of the TT Chamber of

Industry and Commerce, that the levying of property taxes on equipment is counter productive. I have also found so myself.

In my earlier years when I was the financial controller of Tringen and Federation Chemicals Ltd at Pt Lisas, the accountant brought a cheque to me for signing. It was for the payment of property tax on the Tringen plant which was in construction.

I challenged it on the basis that it made no sense for a firm to pay tax on a plant which had not even started operations nor produced a single dollar of profitability. Therefore, in my opinion, it was a parasitical tax no different than the exchequer putting his hand in your pocket and stealing your capital which you needed to install your machinery.

As far as I know, this system of taxation still exists and I believe the value of machinery during construction will continue to be taxed, which is a far worse situation than even what Faria pointed to. In fact, an incomplete building is also subject to tax even before machinery is installed and earnings achieved.

Myriad taxes engineered by the Government have reached their limit now and must be a burden to manage as well. I just mention a single example.

Why must businessmen spend so much time filling forms, getting tax numbers, visiting the BIR, opening new accounts etc to pay Green Fund and Business Levy taxes, among others, when they can be simply rolled into the corporation tax rate or added to it, leaving it to the Government to distribute.

A single corporate tax rate for everything would release the energy of entrepreneurs and others like a “clock spring unfurled” (Henry George) and will force people to work in productive endeavours instead of twiddling thumbs behind desks, especially in government offices.

But do we really want this?

PETER S MORALLES

Cascade