Defer property tax date

The business organisations are the Greater Tunapuna Chamber of Industry and Commerce; Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce; Couva/ Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce; San Fernando Business Association; Penal/ Debe Chamber of Commerce; Siparia Chamber of Commerce; Point Fortin/South Western Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Rio Claro Chamber of Commerce.

Couva/Point Lisas Chamber president Liaquat Ali said the property tax and increased bank charges were discussed by representatives of the eight chambers during a meeting at the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber’s auditorium in Camden Road, Couva on Monday. “We are not against the property tax but are against the manner in which it is being rushed,” Ali said adding, “we need a lot more clarity because there are a lot more questions than answers.” “We are saying to government, defer the date from May 22, and give yourself enough time to communicate with the population on how they are going about valuing the property tax.” Ali said the six percent tax on plant and machinery is a disincentive to the manufacturing sector, saying a business owner may have to pay $3M on a property valued $10M.

“Let’s say you have a building valued $10 - $15 million and you have $50 million worth of plant and equipment.

You want to tell me that I have to pay three million dollars every year? No, we are against the six percent in industrial tax on plant and equipment,” he said.

On bank charges and the distribution of foreign exchange, Ali said planned meetings with the Bankers Association (BATT) failed to materialise as neither party could agree on a scheduled time.

“We are asking banks for clarity in how they distribute foreign exchange.

What criteria do they use, how is John Public to access foreign exchange, the banks are not telling us their criteria,” Ali said.

“Some businesses have reached a position where we have to scale down operations because we don’t have the amount of foreign exchange to pay for goods,” he said noting a shortage of foreign exchange was unavoidable due to low energy prices.

“By all indications and all correspondence coming out of BATT, they have no intention in my opinion, of reducing any charges and are justifying their charges by being efficient. But you can go into a bank and line up for two to three hours, there are no facilities for the differently abled, senior citizens have to go and wait for hours in a line, they have no washroom facilities...this is efficiency” he asked.

He said to cut back on expenses, the business organisations are looking at not accepting credit cards at their business places. “The business have to pay a percentage based on sales, so we losing that for the income we getting, the cardholder has to pay a fee for using the credit card and a service charge, so we feel now that is about time we bring back the ‘ole time days’. We are prepared to look at the possibility of not accepting credit card transactions at the point of sale, so the business community wouldn’t have to fork out that expense,” Ali said.