Property tax measures show government ‘desperately needs cash’, GSD says

The GSD has called the Gibraltar government “desperately in need of cash” after announcing new tax measures imposed on any sale by a person owning three or more properties.

The new tax was announced by Trade, Industry and Finance Minister Nigel Feetham during last month’s Budget.

However, the opposition argues that the bill raises more questions than it answers regarding its application.

“This is a government that is so strapped for cash that it has to levy taxes because of its historic misspending,” the GSD said.

“When it does so, it must consider the impact it could have on foreign investment at a time when our economy is facing severe headwinds from uncertainty.”

“Investors need tax certainty and the Minister’s enthusiasm to randomly change our long-established tax laws without consultation worries some.”

Roy Clinton, GSD’s shadow minister for public finance and overseas investment, said the bill was unclear.

“The Bill as it stands now appears to go beyond the Minister’s suggestion in Parliament that he intends to tax ‘people who are effectively dealing in property’,” Clinton said.

“The minister suggested on social media that the purpose of the bill was to ‘target a few wealthy property speculators – those who buy large quantities of properties on the plan from developers’, but the draft bill goes beyond that and is unclear.”

“In my view the Bill is too broad and does not specifically target off-plan speculators as intended and I have privately raised my concerns with the Minister.”

“People will not ignore the reason for this measure. It is the dire cash crunch that the government is grappling with.”

“For reasons that were well explained during the budget debate, the GSLP/Libs are trapped in a cycle of mismanagement of public finances from which they cannot escape and are simply casting nets to rake in money everywhere to fund their inability to stick to budgets.”

Mr Clinton called Mr Feetham’s letter, published in the Chronicle last Friday, “simply inappropriate” because it raised issues about a citizen’s private financial affairs.

“Can’t people engage with government without risking public embarrassment just because they disagree with a particular measure?” Mr. Clinton said.