News Archive

Powerful Interest Groups Welcome Property Tax Changes, PNP Rejects Revision

April 12, 2017

Published:Wednesday | April 12, 2017 | 4:00 AMJovan Johnson Audley Shaw (left), minister of finance and public service, chats with Prime Minister Andrew Holness before addressing the contentious property tax issue in Parliament yesterday. The powerful interest groups that led public calls for the Government to review the revised property...

Garth Rattray | Unreal Estate Taxes

April 10, 2017

The taxes levied against motorists suggest that the Government believes that transportation is an unnecessary, overindulgent, bourgeois luxury. It taxes transportation with the ferocity that it taxes alcohol and tobacco. Taxes on everything to do with automobiles appear to be categorised as sin tax. But the most egregious tax adjustment has to do with...

Major Clash Over Property Taxes Expected In Gordon House Today

April 4, 2017

Published:Tuesday | April 4, 2017 | 4:00 AMJovan Johnson Government and opposition lawmakers are set to clash at Gordon House today when the controversial revised property tax system comes up for scheduled debate. The Cabinet had its usual Monday meeting yesterday, and up to press time, there was no conclusion on the review that Information Minister...

Property tax anger

March 31, 2017

SHAW… I am encouraged The Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) yesterday chided the Government over its new property tax regime and submitted five recommendations which it believes will soothe growing anger over the measure. According to the JMA, a survey of its membership found that the revised rates will impact property owners with...

Tax Tightrope - Owners May Be Forced To Sell Some Properties In Balancing Act To Manage Obligations,

March 30, 2017

While some real estate owners will be marginally affected by the amendments to property tax rates and Government's revaluation of land, others may be forced to sell their holdings in order to manage their tax obligation, given the massive increases they are now facing, says Realtors Association of Jamaica President Edwin Wint. "An increase in property...