Property owners in Trinidad are up in arms following an announcement from the country’s Government that they will face far higher taxes from next year – something which is bound to have a detrimental affect on the number of international investors keen to invest in the Trinidad property market…
Once the global economic crisis really started to hit home, the vast majority of countries saw the amount of foreign investment interest dwindle rapidly.
In a bid to boost the stalled economy, the Government decided to look at restructuring the Trinidad property tax system and alongside that meant a rise in property taxes.
Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira said the Government proposed to introduce a new four-tiered property tax regime on January 1st, 2010 and this it would be based on the present market values of properties.
Residential properties will be taxes at three per cent come January 1st, with commercial properties being taxed at five per cent and agricultural properties at one per cent.
These planned increases could see some unlucky property owners facing an increase of between 100 per cent and a whopping 600 per cent on top of what they currently pay.
Critics of the plan are deeply concerned that it will have a negative impact on both the rental and buying sectors in the country.
Whilst it is expected that some owners will sell up in a bid to avoid the higher taxes, others, both local and international property/ buyers, will be far less inclined to buy.
Property owners and tenants of rental properties alike are all expected to be affected by the new rules. Rents will increase as property owners will have to pay higher taxes, thus forcing them to up the price they charge their tenants to cover the costs.
In Trinidad, property taxes are tied up with mortgage payments, so another negative effect of the new rules is that mortgage payments look set to increase, something which could force even more to rethink their purchase or get out of the market altogether.
Foreign buyers are predicted to be looking to countries with more favourable tax regimes following the announcement, which would be bad news for the Trinidad property market, tourist sector, and economy – the latter obviously relying heavily on both of the former.
For more information on international property/ and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.
For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:
Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650
