PM announces subsidy for first-time homeowners, land tax ease

The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) kicked off its 2022 election campaign with a promise to make it easier for young people to acquire their own property.

Addressing the drive-in meeting which was streamed at Eden Lodge and Montgomery Pastures, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that her government will grant a $3,000 subsidy to every first-time buyer under age 35.

“We believe that in this country the time has come to ease the burden on a few people in a way that is responsible. You can’t ask people to believe that ownership matters, as we will do for you, without understanding that sometimes there are limitations to people being able to own.

“The first limitation, especially for young, first-time homeowners, is if they [have] enough money to pay the legal fees on the documents when they’re buying a property. And, therefore, this government will give a subsidy of $3,000 to every person under the age of 35 buying a first-time house in this country to help towards legal fees, because we need to encourage the housing revolution that will come from this year 2022,” she said.

Additionally, she announced that should the BLP form the next government, over 39,000 people will be exempt from paying land tax. The details, she said, will be outlined in the party’s manifesto.

“It will also benefit another 42,000 people who, while also having to pay land tax, will pay a reduced amount because of the policies that we will introduce to encourage ownership in this country without the limitations and fetters that otherwise come with ownership,” Mottley said.

“This is a serious government with serious business to put a fillip into a housing industry that will bring a housing revolution. How many times you’ve heard about 25,000 people at the NHC waiting for houses? We say that the time for that has to be put behind us. And I say to you tonight that over the course of the next 15 days or so, you are going to hear from this platform, policies that are designed to transform this nation.”

The Prime Minister told her audience that while she was confident the country would see economic recovery this year, there was still need to prepare for serious challenges ahead, particularly climate change and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What I am worried about is that when we go to Glasgow as we had to, we know that if you think that the freak storm and Elsa [were] bad, if you think that the drought that we have been facing in the Water Authority is bad, worse is yet to come. And we have 12 to 15 years to prepare ourselves. But 12 to 15 years ain’t no time,” she said.

Mottley also took Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley to task for choosing to contest the St Michael Central constituency in the upcoming election, after representing the St Michael West for the past 22 years.

He broke ranks with the BLP in 2018, following the party’s landslide victory at the polls, to form the opposition in Parliament.

Mottley accused him of abandoning his people by switching constituencies.

“In 1999, he chose to become the representative of the people of St Michael West. That is some 22 years ago. I almost fall off my bed last night when it was confirmed that he was abandoning the people of Richmond, of Alkins Land, of Hindsbury Road, of Bank Hall, of Barbarees Hill, of Parris Gap, without so much as a decent ‘thank you’,” Mottley charged.
(BT)