…says no 75% cut for PNC as Congress Place land owned by company, not party
In light of revelations that the land where the People’s National Congress Reform’s (PNCR’s) Congress Place headquarter is located being owned by a company, it is being argued that the largest party in the parliamentary opposition cannot benefit from the recent move by the cash-strapped Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to reduce the taxes owed by political parties.
Last week, the M&CC passed an ‘Institutional Rate Policy’ seeking to exempt political parties from paying rates and taxes, or reducing those sums. This would see the benefitting parties paying as low as 25 per cent of rates and taxes owed.
It was subsequently reported at the PNC had owned the City Council a whopping $6.7 billion in rates and taxes for Congress Place and several more millions for other properties owned by the party across the city. However, it has since been disclosed that the land which houses Congress Place is not owned by the long-standing political party but a company called – Maikwak.
In fact, the PNC has even denied that the party owes the City Council any taxes. Based on this position by the PNC, General Secretary of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo argued that the opposition party would not be able to benefit from this new tax-reduction policy.
“Fine, if you [PNC] don’t owe any taxes, you may be right. It is Maikwak who owes the taxes so Maikwak must pay. So, that means you can’t claim a 75 per cent reduction in your taxes,” Jagdeo contended during his weekly press conference held at the party’s Freedom House headquarters.
He went onto dismiss concerns that Maikwak could still apply as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to benefit from tax reduction benefits from the City Council. Existing regulations already allows the M&CC to give a preferential tax rate to NGOs and this new ‘Institutional Rate Policy’ that was passed last week seeks to extend this benefit to political parties.
But according to Jagdeo, “The company is incorporated under the Company’s Act. It was struck off but that doesn’t mean their tax liabilities disappear… and so they can’t surface back as an NGO now… But even if the policy for political parties stands, my point is that the land is not vested in the name of the political party, therefore, it would not be eligible for this new institutional rate… It is vested in the name of a company and companies now can’t benefit from that institutional rate that they recently pushed through the City Council even after we objected to it.”
Georgetown Mayor, Alfred Mentore, who had previously defended this new tax-cut policy saying that political parties also need “a little break” from fulfilling their tax obligation, subsequently disclosed that it was the Alliance For Change (AFC) – the minority parliamentary opposition party. Jagdeo questioned the motive behind the AFC making such a requesting, suggesting that it was deliberate.
“I think the AFC knew the PNC owed these taxes – it’s a vindictive thing – and they applied for a reduction in their rate knowing all of this would be exposed,” he surmised.
According to the PPP General Secretary, the big question now is who are principles of Maikwak and whether the City Council will move against the company to recover the multi-billion-dollar taxes owed.
Nevertheless, Jagdeo said this entire situation highlights the impunity and arrogant manner in which both the PNC and AFC operate.
On this note, the PPP General Secretary went onto reiterate that his party has always fulfilled its tax obligations and is up-to-date with all its payment, hence, they would not support this policy being rolled out by City Hall.
Jagdeo also used the opportunity to lash back at critics who always claimed that the PPP/C Government is starving the City Council of funds. He pointed out that last year, the M&CC spent approximately $2 billion and based on this, the $6.7 billion in taxes owned alone can be used to run the Council for approximately three years.
He further pointed out that currently, the central government is construction and rehabilitation almost all of the roads throughout the city – a municipal responsibility. Government, the PPP General Secretary added, also installs traffic lights, working on relocation the dumpsite from the city and is investing heavily to improve the city’s drainage with the installation of new pumps throughout Georgetown.
“I can go down a long list of things that we’re doing in the city… but [they say] we’re starving the city of funds. And as our Cuncillors [at City Hall] pointed out, and they are doing a good job [at] exposing the excesses there and the corruption at the City Council… that there is no accountability for the funds until now – absolutely none [accountability] for the funds transferred to them and from rates and taxes.” (G8)
