DON'T EXPECT LAND PRICES to come down because of a reduction in the Property Transfer Tax.

The Opposition's main spokesman in the Senate, Freundel Stuart, issued this warning yesterday.

He was speaking on a bill to reduce the Property Transfer Tax from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

Stuart charged that Government was not addressing a fundamental issue that was pushing the price of land beyond the reach of ordinary Barbadians – the absence of a disincentive to non-national property buyers.

The real problem is the price at which non-nationals can buy land in Barbados, he argued. He said their pockets were so deep they could offer anything for lands and distort the market.

At the same time, they put locals in a position where if they cannot bargain at that level then they cannot buy land, Stuart argued.

The lawyer contended that former Prime Ministers Bernard St John and J. M. G. M. "Tom" Adams argued that the Property Transfer Tax for non-nationals should be higher, 10 per cent in the case of St John.

He charged that the current Government was making a grand "U-turn" on the policies of the Adams and St John administrations.

Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Erskine Griffith, said the recommendation to cut the Property Transfer Tax came out of a review of the general tax system in Barbados to ensure that it was in line with what obtained across the region to make Barbados more competitive.

One view was that lowering the tax would help to reduce the cost of acquiring property.

Griffith said the Government was also moving to increase from $125 000 to $150 000 the threshold at which the tax applies. (TY)