Authority to re-issue land tax assessments to affected agricultural landowners

SAgricultural landowners complaining about the sharp increase in their land taxes could soon get relief, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has said.

She revealed that the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) is working to correct an “error” that led to the high bills.

The increases, in some cases as high as 250 per cent, sparked outrage from St Philip North MP Dr Sonia Browne after she received a huge tax bill in April. She has since encouraged affected landowners across the island to protest the increase.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley addressed the controversial issue when she responded to a taxpayer who raised the issue with the Parish speaks town hall meeting on Thursday evening at Princess Margaret Secondary School.

Peter Bradshaw, a resident of Sanford, St Philip, told the Premier that he and other residents of agricultural plots felt penalised for using their land as intended. Bradshaw said they now pay new land tax rates that are in line with commercial property taxes.

Mottley said: “I understand from the tax office that there were a number of issues where they literally made mistakes with the valuations of the houses, where the residential properties and rates were changed to agricultural properties. They are looking at that now.”

She also urged patience as the investigation progressed: “An error has been made in the categorisation of a number of properties in relation to their relocation and the updated accounts will be reissued by the authority to reflect the rates that would have been associated with the previous category.”

The issue has been a source of contention in recent months, with many Sandford residents complaining about new rate increases for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 periods. Some residents have seen their bills rise by as much as 250 per cent, with cases where previous bills of $400 or $3,000 have risen to more than $4,500 or $8,300 respectively.

Last Friday it also emerged that Frere Pilgrim, Christ Church, had become the latest focus of outrage over a huge increase in property taxes, a week after Dr Browne ended her protest against mounting legislative proposals in St Philip’s, including her own.

Obstetrician Dr Raymond Maughan, 72, whose 2.07-acre parcel is registered as farmland, has seen his tax bill triple from $2,425 last year to $7,362.50 this year. He said the value of his property was $212,700 and the improved value was $775,000.

The Prime Minister’s assurance follows a December 2023 letter obtained by Barbados TODAY which revealed that Kevindale Carter, BRA’s land valuation and appraisal technical specialist, explained in response to a complaint from a resident that owners of plots of land of two hectares or larger were now required to pay 0.95 per cent on the improved value of their land.

On behalf of Revenue Commissioner Louisa Lewis-Ward, Carter wrote: “The Development Planning Office (DPO), formerly the Town and Country Development Planning Office (TCDPO), determines land use in Barbados. These parcels of land are all classified by the DPO as agricultural land. All parcels of land of two acres or more in developments are classified by the DPO as agricultural land.”

He further explained: “The Barbados Revenue Authority does not classify lands, but values ​​and taxes are based on the DPO classification. When these plots of land are vacant, they are valued and taxed as agricultural lands. That should not change because a house has been built on the land. The department made an error by changing the category from agricultural land to residential for people with houses. This error is now being corrected.”

Carter added that a “50 percent discount is available to those who use the land to produce agricultural products for sale.”

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