Questions on property tax and laptops

THE EDITOR: Open letter to the UNC government and its Coalition of Interests.

I read the details of your post-Cabinet briefing on May 15, specifically regarding the repeal of the property tax. The Prime Minister said, “We’ll repeal it. It will take us time to put the law in place.”

My question to this administration is: are property owners expected to continue to pay this tax until the law is passed? What happens if people ignore the tax notification sent earlier this year requiring payment by September 30?

If the intent is to repeal this tax, and based on the PM's contradictory comments regarding Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo’s previous announcement that refunds will be made, we property owners are left in a conundrum as to how to proceed.

I know this is a caring government and would not like to continue to allow people to be unduly burdened with this tax.

Another observation I need to highlight is the Education Minister's statement about the distribution of 18,000 laptops to all students writing the SEA exam. Is this a prudent decision? Aren’t there households where students are in possession of laptops and do not need an additional laptop?

Would it not be more instructive to adopt a means test to determine those students who are truly in need of a laptop and are unable to afford such? Isn’t this a waste of our nation’s scarce resources?

A BRERETON

via e-mail