BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Sunday July 20, 2014, CMC - Dissatisfied with concessions on the Municipal Solid Waste Tax the Opposition Barbados Labour Party plans a mass rally Sunday evening in downtown Bridgetown, where party leaders may announce protest marches.
This new tax was announced last year with a sweeping .03 per cent charge on the site value of every real estate property across the island, but there have been widespread complaints about the financial burden it places on residents.
Cabinet Thursday decided to waive all payments of this levy for pensioners with property valued under $190,000 (One BDS dollar = 50 US cents), slashed it for agricultural land, and pushed back the payment deadline for others.
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But Opposition Leader Mia Mottley Friday, described the changes as a ‘knee-jerk reaction’
“I welcome the news that some pensioners whose properties are valued at $190,000 or less will not now pay the tax. But there are still thousands more pensioners who still have to pay the full tax if their properties are above this value,” Mottley said.
Representatives of businesses and pensioners also welcomed the changes, but said they want more.
The political opposition maintained it stance that this legislation must be repealed.
“We are not stopping short of the complete repeal of this unfair, disgusting, discriminatory piece of legislation,” said BLP Senator, Wilfred Abrahams, in one of the many public meetings held last week as momentum builders for Sunday’s rally.
“It is coming a point in time very soon when we are going to call on the people of Barbados to walk with us,” he said in reference to Sunday’s rally.
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Barbados Labour Party plans Sunday anti-tax rally
