#SectoralDebate: Uproar in Parliament as Opposition objects to bill to amend property tax – Jamaica Observer

KINGSTON, Jamaica Members of the Parliamentary Opposition today objected as Finance Minister Audley Shaw asked the House of Representatives to pass the Bill which would enact the Government's new property tax regime.

Members objected on the basis that they were not given an opportunity to properly assess the Bill, and accused the Government of trying to circumvent Parliamentary Standing Orders by trying to pass the Bill along with another Bill, which the Opposition would support.

Peter Bunting, the spokesperson nominated by the Opposition to respond to Shaw's presentation today, accused the Government of subterfuge and anancyism in trying to simultaneously pass the Bill to amend the Property Tax Act with a separate Bill to validate taxes already collected by the Government.

Bunting said the latter Bill was a normal course of conduct for the House, but said that there was nothing connecting it to the former Bill and therefore they should not be passed together.

Bunting reiterated that the Opposition would not support the Bill to amend the Property Tax Act.

Leader of Opposition business, Phillip Paulwell, said the Opposition members only became aware of the new Bill to amend the Property Tax Act when they arrived at Parliament, and would not accept oppression by the Government in trying to pass the Bill today.

Paulwell added that the practice had always been to notify the Opposition of a bill which needed to be urgently passed before the sitting at which it was intended to be passed.

Leader of Government Business Derrick Smith, however, objected to Paulwell's use of the word 'always', saying the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members had suffered the same lack of notice in the past.

Bills to validate the collection of taxes before the passing of legislation which allow for the new taxes are commonly used by Parliament so that the Government cannot be sued for collecting taxes without proper legal basis.

Both Smith and Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte said the Bill to validate the collection of taxes was necessary because of the previous administration's omission.

Forte insisted that the bills needed to be passed together because they were connected.

Both bills were eventually passed with the 31 Government MPs in favour, 25 Opposition MPs against, and six absent.

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#SectoralDebate: Uproar in Parliament as Opposition objects to bill to amend property tax - Jamaica Observer