‘Draconian and heartless’

Several of the placards read - “Stop the Property tax”; “The Property tax is draconian and heartless” and “Government must ax d tax.” At about mid-morning, approximately 30 vehicles left the Pierre Road Recreation Ground in Felicity. Leading the motorcade was Ummah T&T leader, Imam Rasheed Karim.

They drove throughout the Borough of Chaguanas and many residents cheered and shouted their support.

Speaking at the start of the mortorcade, Karim said that their rights as law-abiding citizens were being trampled upon by the ruling People’s National Movement, saying that while they had to pay taxes, other persons who lived at HDC houses and were squatting on State lands, do not have to do so.

He said, “You and I, ordinary hardworking law-abiding citizens of this country, need to stand up for our rights especially when our rights are being trampled upon. This property tax that they are going to implement is going to affect society; it is going to cause depression and despair in the population. It is a dark day in our country; it is a gloomy day in our country.” Karim said that there are approximately 13 requirements which landowners had to fill out on the property tax forms and wondered whether they would be fined or jailed if they do not do so on time.

were unable to complete the firm within the deadline.

“The obvious consequence of the property tax,” he added, “is that business owners would pass it on to the poor man by raising prices of their products. Every time the businessman has to be taxed, the poor man is taxed, so there is no middle- class in Trinidad and Tobago. Is either you are rich or you are poor,” Karim said.

Meanwhile, National Solidarity Assembly political leader Nirvan Maharaj, has added his voice to the chorus of dissent regarding the property tax, saying that government should immediately withdraw the impending tax and revert to the old system until proper consultations are done with stakeholders regarding the mechanisms of collecting the tax. He said that issues of proper safety, security, valuation, confidentiality and most importantly, equality of treatment amongst all property owners in Trinidad and Tobago, were matters that must be considered.

Maharaj said, “There is no doubt in my mind that this impending property tax by the Government seems to be a systematic and organized attempt to engage in a subtle form of discrimination and unfair treatment of productive law abiding citizens, who labour for years to build a life for themselves and their children, while supporting and propping up those individual who continuously depend on political patronage and handouts to survive.” He said that government must ensure the equitable treatment of all property owners once they occupy property, whether by paper title ownership, squatting, State lands, tenanted lands, regularized or not. He said, “ To do differently, is to send a message to our country that it is better to engage in criminality, and break the law, rather than work hard and sacrifice for what you desire. This type of message must never be allowed to flourish in our nation, because what is good for one, must be good for all.

Productive law-abiding citizens must be cherished and praised rather than brutalized and penalized for working hard for themselves and their children.”