What do the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and Monaco have in common? They are among the list of countries that have decided to spare their citizens the imposition of land taxes.
From biblical times, the tax man was hated, and in 2024, he has found no more favour among taxpayers. Frankly, with the high cost of living in Barbados, the idea of paying more taxes is as unpleasant as the need for an enema.
People are reasonably asking questions about the fairness of imposing a tax on an asset that a person acquires unless one is disposing of that asset and making a gain from its disposal.
Moreover, in a country comprising mainly the descendants of enslaved people who were deprived for hundreds of years of owning assets such as land, citizens are finding it difficult to reconcile that people could lose ownership of land they paid for or inherited if they had the misfortune of not having the wherewithal to pay the associated land taxes.
Others have remarked that the imposition of a land tax serves to keep such a limited and valuable asset out of the hands of ordinary citizens.
Although various administrations have introduced measures to ameliorate the hindrances to land ownership such as the Freehold Purchase Act, land tax relief for pensioners, and a floor below which land tax is not applied, the fact remains that even in rural parts of the country land acquisition is a very costly pursuit.
Adding fuel to a debate that is already searing are whispers of questionable activity at the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA), the country’s largest state revenue collection agency.
As long as those allegations of unfairness in tax demands imposed on some landowners remain unchallenged, John Public’s confidence in the institution will be diminished.
People are wondering what exactly is taking place at this institution and for the sake of the reputations of those being questioned, the institution needs to respond.
The Biblical admonition to “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s” insists we pay what is due to the government or the legitimate authority. However, in 2024, citizens demand that their tax dollars are levied fairly and are used judiciously.
It is therefore reasonable to expect the BRA to respond in a decisive and convincing way to the ongoing concerns.
In this publication, the concerns of some landowners were exposed. Complaints emanating from the seat of Parliament through St Philip North Member of Parliament Dr Sonia Browne require us to focus on the issue.
In her personal appeal from the backbench, Dr Browne sought relief from the land tax assessment on her home which moved from $3 200 to $8 000.
With the taxes on some owners rising by more than 1 000 per cent, affected residents are rightfully calling it “inequality or lack of fairness”.
BRA Revenue Commissioner Louisa Lewis- Ward told one resident in correspondence that the previous amounts he was being asked to pay were incorrect and the current bill was now the correct amount due.
If such a situation represents correcting a wrong, it would appear that in a matter of years, some people could find themselves “taxed out” of their own properties due to these harsh impositions by the state.
One resident intimated that he would effectively be paying the government “$400 every month to rent [his] own property. This doesn’t make any sense to me”.
As much as Barbadians wish to play their role in supporting the number and quality of social services we enjoy as citizens, the taxation cannot be so onerous as to drive people underground to evade their obligations. Neither should tax requirements be so high as to make the acquisition of assets by ordinary citizens so deeply prohibitive that land ownership becomes the exclusive purview of a select few.
