Since the publication of my last letter, I have been besieged with a barrage of complaints from numerous people who have all received their letters of assessment with an exorbitantly high Annual Rental Value (ARV).

They are all asking the same question.

What is the formula that is being applied to determine the ARV of one’s property? It would appear that regardless of where your house is located, once it is well kept, you are assessed with a very high ARV.

Case in point: one man in Trincity got two assessment letters, one for $112,440 and another for $222,000.

He took both letters in to Valuation Division for clarification and they confirmed it was a mistake, the assessment with the lesser value being the correct one.

However, an ARV valuation of $112,440 for Trincity is still ridiculously high. What we are finding in all cases is that the ARV assessment is not on par with the actual rental value that is obtained in the various localities. Yet the Government is saying the rental assessment given is the rent your property is ‘likely to attract’.

This is farthest from the true reality. No house in the Trincity area can rent for $8,433 per month. This rental is what applies to the high-end areas such as Westmoorings, Goodwood Park, Federation Park, etc. Trincity is known to be a working class development.

It leaves serious doubt in the minds of homeowners that the process was not well thought out and, as a result, definitely not fair to them. Perhaps the Government sees homeowners as their ‘cash cows’.

Maybe the ARV method is a deceptive means employed to extract high taxation values. It begs the question: is it fair for the Government to ram the high taxation rate down the throat of the homeowners just like that? For it is a bitter pill to swallow.

There must be a differential between the posh, high-end areas as against the working class areas.

Another consideration is the fact that most people, upon retirement, will take the opportunity to upgrade their homes.

Ninety-nine per cent of retirees’ income are fixed, and usually all accounted for by way of medical bills, utility bills, grocery bills and miscellaneous living expenses.

No one has a problem with paying property tax; however, what the people are saying is that the rate of taxation is too high.

The Government needs to reassess the tax rate and bring it in line with a more equitable and applicable rental rate as per respective localities.

I read in one of the daily newspapers the Government’s response (Notice of Valuation) to the many complaints from homeowners, and I must say the process outlined for an objection to a valuation is a very long-winded process designed to frustrate, discourage and deter.

Let us hope the concerns of the people reach the attention of the authorities, and they see the need to rethink their high-handed position and adjust the rate of taxation to show the people they are truly a caring government. For it is Winston Churchill who said ‘a nation cannot tax itself into prosperity’.

Winfield O’Garro