It’s free land for squatters

The first, as enunciated by the Prime Minister, is that squatters will have to pay property tax.

I fully agree with the comments of Dr Allen Sammy, former chairman of the Land Settlement Agency, that once a squatter pays the property tax, a contract will be created in which that property and even the land on which it is built will now legally belong to the squatter.

Had I known this before, then instead of subjecting myself to a pernicious bank mortgage, I would have done like thousands of others and staked out a piece of land somewhere.

In the past two weeks, a squatter has built a brand new residence on the mountain overlooking my backyard.

I suppose the Government will send a helicopter to collect the property tax from him.

The Government is encouraging the wholesale squatting of lands in TT . That is absolute madness.

The second issue is the possible reality that citizens will have to pay property tax for 2016 and 2017 in one go. Really, Mr Finance Minister? You have been suspiciously quiet on this one.

On Tuesday, Imbert said the “big-shot” owner of a mall will have to pay $3 million in property tax for one year. That means the cost of living in TT will escalate. No business owner in TT will swallow that amount of money under any circumstances.

Linus F Didier Mt Hope