Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne has said the government cannot use people’s land tax bills for anything other than land taxes that have been assessed on the value of the property.The Christ Church South MP offered this in response to the proposed Health Services (Amendment) Bill which was introduced on Tuesday in the House of Assembly by Attorney General Dale Marshall.The bill proposes to impose a $300 administrative penalty for properties with bush and grass taller than two feet and an additional $10 each day the lands remain in the condition after an order by the Ministry of Health to clean up. As a last resort, Marshall said the government would clear the land if it posed a public health threat, and in those circumstances, the bill for this cost would be added to the owner’s land taxes.Thorne questioned the legality of the proposal, stressing that government could not arbitrarily add to people’s land taxes. “You can’t legally conflate a remediation to a land tax,” he argued.At the same time, Thorne accused the Mottley administration of being the worst offender when it comes to overgrown properties, a problem for which it was now seeking to penalise citizens.
