debut: 2/16/17
35,084 runs
Rowley’s arrogant property tax response
I refer to last week Thursday’s Express which quoted the prime minister as saying: “The vast majority of people loudly protesting against property tax are people who have property outside of Trinidad and Tobago.” With his signature temperament, inclusive of his subtly admonishing a homeowner seeking answers, the prime minister’s response of “—so, don’t get me going on that tonight...” highlighted his Government’s arrogance in not properly and respectfully marketing the property tax to citizens, or providing even a scintilla of hope that the Government will deliver overdue services to, quite possibly, the world’s most forbearing citizens.Now, having explained to the honourable PM why citizens are fearful of not getting improved services, let me remind him that his Government is more reactive than proactive; that his Government greatly lacks visionary and futuristic planning; and by the time they expand a single lane to two, it would then require four. If vehicle sales are soaring, generating billions in taxes, then surely you must provide either a railway system or additional roadways to ease the population’s daily stress in nation-building.
Since it appears the PM has a problem with citizens paying property taxes overseas, I am sure that on his many visits, he may have paused to admire sophisticated landscapes of streets, the cleanliness, the inherent lack of all the deficits Trinbagonians face daily. Respectfully, our prime minister’s locus standi is that other countries have crime, so we should accept it, and if there are some potholes in New York, we are a small country, so it’s okay. Likewise, his arrogant property tax response to citizens is to drink of the physician’s bitter medicine, pay up, and don’t complain.
I therefore opine that an oil-rich Trinidad with better management should have been better structured and so successful, so prosperous, so clean that other countries could seek our wisdom to also improve their countries. Unfortunately, quality living is inherently deficient in the Government’s agenda.
I refer to last week Thursday’s Express which quoted the prime minister as saying: “The vast majority of people loudly protesting against property tax are people who have property outside of Trinidad and Tobago.” With his signature temperament, inclusive of his subtly admonishing a homeowner seeking answers, the prime minister’s response of “—so, don’t get me going on that tonight...” highlighted his Government’s arrogance in not properly and respectfully marketing the property tax to citizens, or providing even a scintilla of hope that the Government will deliver overdue services to, quite possibly, the world’s most forbearing citizens.Now, having explained to the honourable PM why citizens are fearful of not getting improved services, let me remind him that his Government is more reactive than proactive; that his Government greatly lacks visionary and futuristic planning; and by the time they expand a single lane to two, it would then require four. If vehicle sales are soaring, generating billions in taxes, then surely you must provide either a railway system or additional roadways to ease the population’s daily stress in nation-building.
Since it appears the PM has a problem with citizens paying property taxes overseas, I am sure that on his many visits, he may have paused to admire sophisticated landscapes of streets, the cleanliness, the inherent lack of all the deficits Trinbagonians face daily. Respectfully, our prime minister’s locus standi is that other countries have crime, so we should accept it, and if there are some potholes in New York, we are a small country, so it’s okay. Likewise, his arrogant property tax response to citizens is to drink of the physician’s bitter medicine, pay up, and don’t complain.
I therefore opine that an oil-rich Trinidad with better management should have been better structured and so successful, so prosperous, so clean that other countries could seek our wisdom to also improve their countries. Unfortunately, quality living is inherently deficient in the Government’s agenda.
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