By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
Inland Revenue Department (IRD) officials have said that most property owners have embraced the new property tax system that was implemented in March this year.
Comptroller of IRD Beverly Williams told The Observer that after realising that their house and land taxes were reduced under the new system, property owners are embracing the change.
“The initial resistance to the tax came out of the fact that people jumped to the assumption that the new system meant higher taxes for property owners. People quickly came around after their properties were re-evaluated and they ended up paying less taxes,” Williams said.
She said that the opposing political party, which created the false impression that the new system would create a huge financial burden on them, was also swaying people’s opinion.
The tax expert said the town hall meetings that were conducted throughout the island before the implementation of the tax were extremely successful with regard to educating the populace about the new tax system.
“Property owners now understand what we are doing due to the town hall meetings we had with them and the radio programs. Now that they understand how the system works and they have seen that it worked to their advantage, most people have stopped fussing,” she stated.
Williams added that the owners of the condominiums in the Frigate Bay area are now paying much less in property taxes under the new system.
“Before, under the rental system, tax was calculated based on the rental value of the property. Rental fees in that area are very high so the tax reflected that. Now that it is based on the market value, they have seen a significant drop in the amount of tax they have to pay,” she divulged.
She noted that some of the other residential areas also saw a decrease in their property tax because of the $80,000 exemption clause. She said in some areas, especially the low income housing projects, property owners were paying very little house tax and in some cases, only the land tax.
In order to speed up the re-evaluation process, the IRD has employed teachers who are on vacation to travel around the country to collect the necessary data from property owners.
Williams said that the department was satisfied with the progress of the process and were pleased that they were getting the co-operation of most of the property owners.
“Some property owners are even calling in to the department to say that they are satisfied. Even though most of the property owners have gotten on board with the new tax system, there are still those who do not understand it fully. We have invited property owners living in the Mattingly Heights area who are not satisfied with their evaluation, to a hearing on Monday at 9 a.m. at Inland Revenue.”
The IRD hopes to complete surveys on at least 55% of the properties on the island by the end of August this year. So far, the assessment teams have surveyed Sandy Point, St. Peters, St. Paul’s, and are working on Old Road, Verchilds, Middle Island, Godwin Ghaut and Half Way Tree.
The process is not without its challenges. One member of the evaluation team said they still encounter persons who are hesitant about the process and are having difficulty contacting absentee property owners. They are appealing to the property owners of St. Kitts to co-operate with the evaluators and surveyors so that the process could run as ‘smoothly’ and swiftly as possible.
