AS REAL ESTATE appreciates
in Barbados, Government

is reinforcing its ability to
collect taxes on some of the
most lucrative properties
– hotels and golf courses.

Last week the administration brought in six first-rate appraisers from Canada and the United Kingdom to train valuers at the Land Tax Department and the Ministry of Housing Property Management Division in new techniques for valuing these types of properties.

Dr Jerry Grad, president of the International Property Tax Institute, led a workshop on Appraisal of Tourism-Related Properties in a Mass Appraisal Environment for 30 participants at Accra Beach Hotel & Resort, Rockley, Christ Church on Thursday.

Land Tax Department Commissioner Wayne Forde told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that "no one likes to pay taxes, but those who do would like to know that they are paying only
their fair share".

And the training would ensure that investors get
"fair, accurate and transparent valuations" on which tax payments were calculated.

Forde noted: "We have looked at these properties
from the bricks-and-mortar point of view [the land plus what it takes to replace or erect a building]. The focus worldwide, now, is to look
at them from the business point of view.

"You have to judge a hotel on the income that it can generate; if the same hotel
was being sold, how much
a prospective purchaser
would pay for it. Likewise
if we had to sell a golf
course on the open market, how much would a person
be willing to pay . . . ."

Barbados has four major golf courses and "we are
going to have some more",
said Forde.

Several hotels here were upgraded for Cricket World Cup 2007 while others, including the Four Seasons, are under construction. (SR)