Parliament To Receive Corrected Land Tax Bill
Minister of Finance Bob Richards will take changes to the Land Tax Amendment bill to Parliament to “correct an error” which the Ministry said “would have unintentionally impacted Bermuda’s senior citizens who are land owners,” as the bill stated an incorrect value for the maximum ARV allowed for seniors.
A spokesperson said, “The Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance, E.T. Richards will take to Parliament changes to The Land Tax Amendment bill, which was tabled on 16th December 2015.
“The Minister said today that he will take action to correct an error in the bill which would have unintentionally impacted Bermuda’s senior citizens who are land owners.
“The Land Tax Amendment Act 2015 stated an incorrect value for the maximum ARV allowed for the exemption afforded to Bermudians 65 years and older, as per section 3A of the Act.
“The corrected ARV limit for the seniors’ exemption is $42,000, NOT $29,000 as tabled.
“Based on the new land tax rates which were also tabled in the amendment, the maximum dollar value of the exemption provided for seniors is $1,569 annually which is in line with the previously existing exemption of $1,566.
“Therefore, although the ARV value has been lowered, the dollar value of the exemption provided to seniors has been maintained.”
The bill., as available on the Parliament website, follows below [PDF here]:
AG’s office has too much on their plate with all the obstruction proceedings in-place. Focus!
Quo Fata Ferunt
Ha ha ha, all those naive enough to believe this was an error, more like a walk back…… Election screaming, well done C13 Seniors ….
This Government is an embarrassment, can’t wait to hurry up and get them out.
What happened to telling Seniors money doesn’t grow on trees, now you want their vote….
This was an obvious error from the outset. The previous amount for relief for seniors who owned their property and lived in it was around $40K. By reducing the figure to $27 they would have doubled or even tripled the amount of land tax currently paid by OAPs. So, Help me Rhonda, this is not an electioneering ploy as you claim.
The oba candidate got a spanking in C13…
What’s your point? This isn’t a competition like you make out to be!
Something is Fuzzy.
LMFAO
@ Jus Wonderin’ Sure it is…. Don’t you know rhonda, and many other political cheerleaders treat Bermuda’s Government race like Cup Match.
That’s why we in this mess. I keep hearing transparency, but I want accountability. You know; like the kind for when you make MAJOR screw ups and get caught out. But NO, we reward screw ups.
SMH
The original number was $50,000 and the change was to $29,000 now changing to $42,000. I believe it was done in error. Listening to Bob in the House, he was clear when questioned, that Seniors land tax would not increase. When the revised ARVs came out, it was clear that with the $29K cut off, most would have been paying more. The correction will make it so Seniors will not pay more, as was insisted by Bob in the House.
It took all that time to realize it was a mistake…SMH
They could have done it the PLP way. Don’t read it, pass it into law, then have a mess to sort out years later.
Where can one find their new land tax bill amount. http://www.ladvaluation.bm ain’t got jack on ARV amounts!?
Don’t worry there will be one sent to you very shortly…If we still got a Postal Dept.
landvaluations.bm has them. Use a pc, as it does not work with mobile devices well. Did not work with Safari, but worked fine with Chrome. Found mine on Jan 1st.
Should be retroactive to 2009.
Hmmmm…Me thinks that maybe somebody in Government spotted the complaints here on social media & figured that they got caught out so they had better fix it.
Whatever happened glad it has been put right.
Of course it wasn’t a “mistake”. Back-pedaling at its finest.
It makes a change to have a government that reads the laws it is voting on and corrects the mistakes before they become law.
That’s what happens when you have competent people running the place.
Early election. Coming!!
This was not a mistake; this was something straight out of the play book of the former UBP which did not bat an eye when it decided to take something or levy a tax upon the people. The current OBA finance minister was a member of that party and judging by statements he has made and policy decisions he has stood by; I doubt very much he has suddenly heard the cries of the people. If he really wants to do something for seniors he should restore the monies taken from their pensions and relieve the crushing burden impose on them as many struggle to pay their insurance. This is nothing more than a political ploy with an eye n the up coming by-election.
Sorry Alvin they are not that smart.
This was an error, mistake whatever word you want to use. If you think this was a conspiracy then you give them more credit than it is due.
Look at every government past and present and the number of errors in most if not all legislation can be seen. Some are not found for months later but please lets not go backwards and create noise about a plot that never was