Government will hire temporary staff to go out and identify properties not yet on Government’s roll to which a value will be assigned for payment of property tax, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said on Friday.
He was responding to opposition questions from MPs Bhoe Tewarie and Dr Tim Gopeesingh in yesterday’s Finance Committee scrutiny of 2016 budget documents.
On whether the 2009 property tax level would be used throughout, Imbert said the process will start with such rates in 2016. New ones will also have to be formulated and calculated to apply on a level to have equity in the first years. He said that at present a number of properties aren’t on the Government’s roll. Agents will have to go out and identify these properties and add them to the roll.
Imbert confirmed the Valuations Division would handle the project. He said one third of properties in T&T have already been identified and will be dealt with by the Local Government system in the first instance. This will be done in two stages. He said mapping, GPS and aerial photos have already identified some properties. Agents will go out “on the field” to identify others with further mapping. Based on this, value will be assigned to properties. He said as the system is refined, the legislation may have to be amended
Asked by UNC’s Ganga Singh about the tax impact on properties’ Annual Rateable Value (ARV) and Annual Taxable Value (ATV) on which water rates are calculated, Imbert said Government would look at a percentage of how the ARV and ATV applies.
He said Government will also train an “army of youths ,graduates and others” to do VAT collection.
Imbert said if all goes to plan with matters concerning the Procurement Act, it should be in place by the end of the fiscal year and the system will be operational. If so, the Central Tenders Board will cease to exist.
Imbert said the procurement of legal personnel for the CL matter was inconsistent with best practice and there were a lot of “familiar” names there employed during the PP’s term. He said Government would have to correct the situation bringing it in line with best practice.