Barring unforeseen circumstances, the property tax is expected to start this year with residential property first, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said in Parliament on Monday.
He was replying to queries from UNC MPs, including Rudy Indarsingh, Saddam Hosein and David Lee.
Imbert was asked in which month the tax would start. He only said, “Before 31st December 2022.”
On whether the tax will start with residential and commercial, Imbert said at this stage it’s residential.
He said that would be consistent with Government policy of putting regional corporations in front because the Local Government reform law– now before the Parliament, makes it clear that upon approval of that legislation, the collection and retention of residential property tax will be for the account of regional corporations.
On how Government will treat with those who didn’t complete submission of their Valuation forms to the Commissioner of Valuations, Imbert said that answer is contained in the relevant law. Whether the state can waive the $5,000 fine for non-submission of forms, he repeated that the answers can be found by interpretation of the law.
Also yesterday, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds confirmed that the TTPS Police Service has resumed the issuance of Firearm Users (Employee’s) Certificates.
UNC MP Arnold Ram further asked what TTPS would be doing to address the backlog and how many FULs were issued by acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob–but those queries weren’t allowed.
Agriculture Minister Kazim Hosein, replying on former Caroni Limited employees receiving outstanding residential and agricultural lots, said a total of 8,855 former employees were entitled to a residential service lot as part of the VSEP packages offered.
“To date, 5,037 beneficiaries have been allocated to various estates and are at different stages in the process of receiving their leases.
From this figure, 4,764 leases have been executed, however, 44 of these leases are at Caroni, awaiting collection. Some 273 beneficiaries have not yet completed the process at Caroni or are awaiting Letters of Administration,” Hosein said.
He said the number who remain outstanding for residential leases is 3,818 and for agricultural leases, a total of 7,246 people were entitled these parcels of lands.
“From this figure, 127 people reached an agreement with the State and were compensated for their land. The majority of the remaining 7,119 agricultural leases have been completed and the number of agricultural leases outstanding is 577.”
The ministry, via the Office of the Commissioner of State Lands (COSL), is working to ensure all outstanding lots owing to former employees are delivered.
The cost to state for this exercise so far is over $10 billion.
