Tax deferral is no real help

To the editor ( December 17, 2011 )

Tax deferral is no real help.

I usually avoid expressing my opinion about any of our governing officials; I assume they are doing their best at difficult jobs, their mistakes are mostly excusable. But an article in the T&T, Dec 10, about the changes to property tax rules, has me feeling the need to demand that our finance minister Blaine Higgs have his brain examined by a qualified expert in common sense.

A freeze on property taxes increases for seniors; should mean exactly that. But somehow those words can be understood as a deferral of property tax increases, and their related interest payments. These two ideas are NOT the same things.

Thus I think Mr. Higgs has a problem perceiving reality or he is just trying to distort the truth when he said “Our campaign promised we would freeze the tax increase assessments for seigniors and that is exactly what this program is.” This deferral of taxes is not what was wanted or expected. It is no real good for seniors.

This is an example of a short term fix that caucuses long term problems. It may help seniors stay in their houses, but when they sell their property or pass it along to their children, a large bill will have to be paid out of some pocket. “Guess what Billy, your mom died and left you the house, but deferred taxes and interest payments amount to half the value of the property.”

This way of keeping an election promises is rather like saying ‘I will not kick your dog.’ Then once elected, I drop a rock on your dog. There was no kicking involved, so the promise was kept.

This delayed taxation is not a win-win situation. It may look good on paper for the government and the prospect of extra revenue from the interest payments is nice, but it does not protect seniors. As a sort of legal scam to earn money it is fine. But please don’t try to pretend that it is a just fulfillment of a promise.

The only good thing I can see about it is that it is not mandatory. You can ignore it.