In recent months, the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR) has sought to enhance its revenue collection by increasing its use of the “Power of Sale” over Bahamian owned Commercial Property as provided for in the Real Property Tax Act.
This “Power of Sale” procedure is used to recover arrears in Real Property Taxes (RPT) and results in the seizure and confiscation of property, which is then sold, purportedly to the highest bidder, and the arrears of RPT are paid off.
We are speaking to this matter now because the commercial properties being seized belong to Bahamians, many of whom worked long years to establish businesses on these commercial properties and who employ many other Bahamians. While we accept that the DIR has been given certain powers by virtue of legislation, we question whether the laws and procedures are being carried out in a reasonable, proportionate, fair, and transparent manner.
It cannot be that a person’s life’s work can just be seized without having afforded every reasonable opportunity for that Bahamian taxpayer to remedy their alleged arrears with the DIR, particularly when it is the DIR itself over successive decades has failed to properly administer the collection of RPT. Several of these cases are now before the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and have been reported by the media in the public domain.
- We ask the DIR to now disclose the exact number of Bahamian Commercial properties that have been seized and sold under the “Power of Sale” provisions.
- How many Bahamian Residential Non-owner-occupied properties have been seized and sold?
- Who were these properties sold to and for how much?
- What procedures and protocols are in place to ensure that the equity of the property owner is protected?
- What steps has the DIR taken to ensure that property owners do not walk away with nothing after years of investment?
That you have the power, means firstly that you must exercise that power reasonably, fairly, and transparently in the best interests of the Bahamian people, which must include the consideration and protection of the taxpayer.
The Government has a duty to ensure that Bahamians are not unconstitutionally or unreasonably deprived of their property. In the same way that the Government saw it fit to establish a “Homeowners Protection Act” to protect homeowners who found themselves facing harsh foreclosure proceedings with their financial institution. This Government must implement and publish clear rules and procedures to protect Bahamian commercial property owners from the abuse of this draconian power of last resort.
The Government must protect Bahamian property owners while it carries out its revenue collection duties.
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