by Global News Staff
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Hours after opposition leader Keith Rowley broke the news of the government’s move to introduce and approve legislation to approve a new property tax bill, Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar said he fully supported the initiative.
Ramadhar had been among the leading critics of the Property Taxes Bill introduced by the former People’s National Movement (PNM) government in 2009. Ramadhar said it was not true to say that the government was reintroducing the property tax.
The Trinidad Express reported that Ramadhar was questioned by reporters about the bill. He said the People’s Partnership government was reverting to the law as it obtained before the property tax. Told that it was just a change of name as the two bills were very similar, Ramadhar quickly responded, “Not at all, not at all.”
The new Bill proposes a seven and a half percent rate of tax for residents as opposed to three percent under the PNM bill.