The in­tro­duc­tion of the land­lord busi­ness sur­charge un­der the Fi­nance Bill, 2025, has sparked in­tense na­tion­al de­bate, as lead­ing voic­es—in­clud­ing econ­o­mist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon, As­so­ci­a­tion of Re­al Es­tate Agents (AREA) Pres­i­dent Sal­ly Singh and the T&T Coali­tion of Ser­vices In­dus­tries (TTC­SI) pres­i­dent Di­anne Joseph—warn that while the mea­sure aims to strength­en Gov­ern­ment rev­enue and pro­mote tax eq­ui­ty, it risks deep­en­ing fi­nan­cial strain with­in an al­ready frag­ile rental hous­ing mar­ket.