Holness THE JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) supports increasing local government revenue from property taxes, says its local government spokesman Andrew Holness.
The Member of Parliament for West Central St. Andrew says increased revenue is required for government operations to be funded. He was speaking in a recent interview with The Gleaner.
"Certainly there must be an increase in property tax in the overall revenue of local government," Mr. Holness said. "We don't have a problem with the increase in the taxation."
In March the government backtracked on an attempt to impose a 'cess' on electricity bills intended to pay for streetlighting. Following strong objections from the Opposition and across the society, a decision was taken instead to use increased revenue from land taxes to fund to programme.
"We are the ones who said, increase the property tax and take out of the property tax their street light cess," Mr. Holness said. This would remove the burden from individual consumers and spread it more equitably.
The bill for street lighting is currently borne by parish councils and the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC). However, they have defaulted on payment over the years and reportedly owe a combined bill of several hundred million dollars.
"Clearly the tax will have to be increased," Mr. Holness said. "Like it or not governments must impose tax in order to fund their operations. But if you trivialise the process then you make it difficult to collect because people would say it's not transparent, it's not fair."
A Jamaica Labour Party government would review the property tax system, he said. The aim would be to create an equitable, certain and transparent means of calculating and administering property taxes.
"I cannot comment on how much it is going to be," he said of the property tax rate which would be instituted by a possible JLP government. But they would ensure that property tax was used for local purposes such as the maintenance of local roads, sewage disposal, solid waste disposal and street lighting.
They would also seek to improve the tax collection by ensuring that tax notices are sent out on time, he said. Where prosecution is necessary, prosecution would be carried out to collect the tax.
"But we will be using a more educational approach," to tax collection, he said.
