By Clint Chan Tack Friday, January 1 2010

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Mariano Browne...

AFTER a marathon debate which saw fireworks in both Houses of Parliament over a four day period, the Government succeeded in passing the controversial Property Tax Bill 2009 in the Senate at 10.35 pm on Wednesday night. The bill was sent yesterday (Old Year’s Day) to President George Maxwell Richards for assent, and will take effect from today, New Year’s Day.

Debate on the Property Tax Bill and the Land Valuation Bill began in the Senate at 10 am on Tuesday. The bills were debated separately and the Land Valuation Bill was passed on Tuesday at 9 pm with Senate President Danny Montano casting the deciding vote. The Senate adjourned at 1.30 am on Wednesday until 1.30 pm the same day to conclude debate on the Property Tax Bill.

By the time the final vote was taken in the Senate on the Property Tax Bill at 10.35 pm on Wednesday, Independent Senators Professor Ramesh Deosaran and Michael Annisette voted with the 15 Government Senators to pass it. Four Independents, Corinne Baptiste-McKnight, Annette Nicholson-Alfred, Subhas Ramkhelawan and Gail Merhair voted with the six Opposition UNC senators against the bill. Two Independents, Basharat Ali and Helen Drayton abstained.

As he concluded debate on the Property Tax Bill, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne once again attempted to allay any fears which citizens still had about the new tax. “I want to assure the population that the purpose of this legislation is not to cause stress, difficulty, or fear,” he declared. Browne explained that just as citizens came to understand concepts of national insurance and the severance pay act, “we will come to understand this (property tax), and we will find that it contains tremendous equity.”

For those who feared the bill meant a loss of their homes, Browne explained the three-month period to address non-payments of property tax under the existing Land and Building Taxes Act will now be extended to one year under the new property tax legislation. Browne said the period for which land can be forfeited for non-payment of taxes has been extended from one year to five years. In addition, he said persons encountering difficulties in paying property taxes can ask for deferrals, and “the time before which unoccupied property and un-assessed land could have been forfeited to the State, has been extended from five to 16 years.”

Stating that property attracts certain remedies in common law, Browne said those remedies will continue under the property tax legislation “in so far as they apply to all properties.” He assured Merhair the bill was not an attack against the private sector. Contrary to statements made by other senators during the course of the two-day debate in the Upper House, Browne said state enterprises such as Petrotrin, National Flour Mills and the National Gas Company were not exempted from paying property tax. Neither were special purpose companies (SPCs) such as Udecott, Nipdec and the Education Facilities Company.

Browne said it was a “left pocket, right pocket” situation in the case of the SPCs because Government gives these companies a subvention and “they put it back in land and building tax.” He disagreed with Ali’s view that SPCs were not “sufficiently transparent” in matters such as these. Browne assured Nicholson-Alfred that three pieces of legislation will be coming to Parliament in the first quarter of 2010 to address the concerns she raised regarding land title ownership and regularisation in Tobago. “It is a very important point that cannot be dealt with in the ambit of this legislation. Tobago has to be addressed by special legislative intent,” Browne said.

While citizens are expected to receive their first property tax bills in the mail on March 31, 2010, Browne said: “The penalties don’t kick in until September 15 (2010).” Acknowledging the sentiments of fear and uncertainty expressed in different segments of the population about the new taxes, Browne said the ministry’s valuation division has been beefed up, and is gathering a large amount of data to address all concerns raised by members of the public.

As a money bill, the passage of the Property Tax Bill through Parliament was assured under Section 63 of the Constitution and the Senate standing order 63.

Debate on the Property Tax Bill and the Land Valuation Bill began in House of Representatives on December 18. On that day, dissident PNM Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley openly condemned the Government on the bill and declared there was no need for higher property taxes.

The Government hit back at Rowley with full force in the House on December 21 with Works Minister Colm Imbert, Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira, Legal Affairs Minister Peter Taylor and Information Minister Neil Parsanlal all slamming his contribution in the debate. The House passed the bill on December 21. Before the bill was passed, Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Governmental Organisations (Fitun) David Abdulah was arrested by police as he participated in a protest outside of the Red House. Abdulah was subsequently released and vowed that Fitun would continue its campaign against the property tax.