LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX 1

THE LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX ACT

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1. Short title.

2. Interpretation.
3. Power of Minister to declare improvement areas.
4: Objenions to classification.

5. Review of decision of Commissioner.
6. Amendment of orders re classification.
7. Constitution and operation of Review Board.
8. Payment of land improvement tax.
9. Exemptions from tax.

10. Power of Minister to remit tax.
11. Assessment rolls.

12. Land improvement tax enforceable under Tax collcctiw Act.

me inclusion of this pdge is authorkd by L.N. 480/19731

LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX 3

THE LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX ACT
A&

41 of 1968,
[IOrh October, 1968.1 12of1B5.

1. This Act may be cited as the Land Improvement Tax shorttitle.
Act.

2. In this Act- tntcrpre.
lation.

“improvement area” means an area declared by orda
under section 3 to be an improvement area;

“land improvement tax” means tax imposed pursuant
to an order under section 3;

“person in possession of property” and “property”
have the meanings assigned to those expressions
in section 12 of the Property Tax Act.

3.-(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (3), when- pOwerr of
ever the Government undertakes, or proposes to under- dsdaro
take, in any area, expenditure from public funds which, Fey;&
in the opinion of the Minister, is substantial, it shall be
lawful for the Minister by order-

(a) to declare any such area to be an improvement
area and the provisions of this Act shall apply in
relation to properties in that area;

(6) to classify all or any properties the boundaries of
which fall within, or partly within and partly with-
out, an improvement area;

(c) to impose, during the continuance in force of the
order, a tax at a uniform rate or at a graduated
rate upon the value of such properties in accord-
ance with their classification;

Minister to

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4 LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX

(d) to specify the date on which the 6rst payment of
the tax imposed shall fall due, or to specify differ-
ent dates on which such first payment shall fall
due in relation to properties of different classifica-
tions;

(e) to provide that the amount of the 6rst payment
of the tax, either in relation to properties generally
in an improvement area or in relation to pro-
perties of any specified classification, shall be a
part only of the amount payable for a full year
and to specify the manner in which such part is
to be determined;

(f, from time to time to vary or cancel any such
order.

(2) Land improvement tax shall be imposed on the
basis of valuations under the Land Valuation Act, in rela-
tion to properties in parishes where property tax is levied
on the unimproved value of such properties and on the
basis of valuations under the Valuation Act in relation to
properties in other parishes.

(3) Any classification of properties pursuant to para-
graph (b) of subsection (1) shall have regard amongst other
things to the benefit which, in the opinion of the Minister,
has accrued or is likely to accrue to those properties.

(4) Every order under this section shall be subject
to affirmative resolution of the House of Representatives.

Objections 4.-(1) Where any person in possession of property is
dissatisfied with the cIassiEcation of that propcrty under an
order made pursuant to section 3, he may, within the pre-
scribed time, post or lodge with the Commissioner of Valua-
tions an objection in writing against the classification stating
the grounds upon which he relies.

(0 daasifi-
cation

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LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX

(2) The Commissioner shall, with all reasonable des-
patch, consider the objection and may either-

(a) disallow it; or
(b) allow it either wholly or in part and, if he does so,

shall make a recommendation to the Minister that
the order be modified accordingly pursuant to sec-
tion 6 .

(3) Written notice of the Commissioner’s decision
shall be given to the objector.

(4) In this section “the prescribed time” means, in
relation to any property classified by an order under sectioa
3, the period of three months next after the date specified
in the order as being the date on which the first payment
of the tax imposed shall fall due in respect of that property.

5

5.41) Any objector who is not satisfied with the decision Review of
decision of of the Commissioner upon an objection, may, within sixty c ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .

days after the service of the notice of that decision, by siOner.
memorandum in writing, request the Commissioner to refer
the decision to a Review Board for review of that decision.

(2) A review pursuant to subsection (1) shall be
limited to the grounds stated in the objection:

Provided that the Review Board may, in its discretion,
permit the grounds to be amended.

(3) Where the Commissioner has been requested to
refer a decision to the Review Board he shall, with all
reasonable despatch, refer the decision accordingly and, if
he has forwarded his recommendation to the Minister in
relation to that objection, shall notify the Minister that the
recommendation has been referred to the Review Board.

(4) Upon a review under this section, the Review
Board shall-

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6 LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX

(a) make a recommendation to the Minister either-
(i) that the recommendation of F e Commk-

sioner be confirmed, or
(ii) that the recommendation of the Commis-

sioner be varied in such respects as the
Board may think desirable; and

(b) furnish a copy of the recommendation aforesaid
to the objector.

(5) No judge OT magistrate or other member of a
Review Board shall, solely on account of land owned by
him being subject to classification by the Commissioner,
be deemed to be interested in or debarred from dealing
with any matter upon which he may be called upon to
make recommendations under this Act.

Amendment 6.-{1) Where the Minister is satisfied, upon a recorn-
cIassifica- Of 'Idersre mendation of the Commissioner or the Review Board, as
lion. the case may be, that it is desirable for an order under section

3 to be modified so as to change the classification of any
property affected by the order, he may, by notice in the
Gazette, modify the order in accordance with the recom-
mendation of the Commissioner or the Review Board, as
the case may be, and thereupon the order shall be deemed
to be, and always to have been, modified in the manner
specified in such notice, without prejudice, however, to any-
thing done under the order before the date of such notice.

(2) Any notice under this section shall be subject to
allinnative resolution of the House of Representatives.

Constitution
and tion opera- f Re appoint a Review Board consisting of-

7.--(1) For the purposes of section 5, the Minister shall

view Board.
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LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX

(U) a chairman who shall be a Resident Magistrate or
some other person qualified to be a Resident
Magistrate; and

(b) two other members.

(2) Members of the Review Board shall, subject to
the provisions of this section, hold office for such term and
on such conditions as may be determined by the Minister.

(3) The Minister may, if he considers it expedient so
to do, at any time revoke the appointment of the chairman
or any other member of the Review Board.

(4) In the absence or inability to act of the chair-
man, the Minister may appoint another person to act tem-
porarily as chairman.

(5) The Review Board may, with the consent of the
person making application for review of a decision by the
Commissioner, but not otherwise, proceed with any case
in the absence of any member other than the chairman,
and in any such case the chairman shall have a second or
casting vote.

(6) The Governor-General shall appoint a public
officer to be clerk to the Review Board, and the Board
may by notice signed by the clerk require the attendance
of any person as a witness, and any person refusing or
neglecting to attend as a witness when summoned by the
Board shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on
summary conviction in a Resident Magistrate’s Court to
a penalty not exceeding twenty dollars and in default of pay-
ment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month.

(7) In proceedings before the Review Board evidence
may be taken on oath, which oath the chairman or the
clerk to the Board is hereby empowered to administer, and
any person giving false evidence in any proceedings before

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8 LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX

the Board shall be liable to be indicted and punished for

(8) Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act,
the Review Board may regulate its procedure and proceed-
ings as it thinks fit.

(9) Proceedings of the Review Board shall, unless the
Board otherwise directs in a particular case, be held in
public.

(10) The question whether any Review Board estab-
lished pursuant to this section has validly performed any
functions vested in it by section 5 or by this section shall not
be enquired into in any court.

perjury.

Payment

mprovc-
merit &.

&-(I) Land improvement taxes shall be paid to the
Collector of Taxes for the parish in which the properties
in respect of which they are imposed are situated.

(2) The first payment of land improvement tax shd
be due and payable on the day fixed by order under section
3 and subsequent payments shall be due and payable in
respect of each financial year on the 1st day of April in
that financial year.

(3) Payment of the tax shall be made by the person
in possession of the property on the date when such tax
becomes due and payable and until paid shd, sabject to
the provisions of the Property Tax Act and the Parochial
Rates and Finance Act, be a first charge and lien upon
the real property liable thereto.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Tax
Collection Act every person liable to pay land improve-
ment tax shalI, on or before the 30th day of A@ in
each year, make a return in respect of his properties on
which the tax is payable, to the Collector of Taxes for the

pf land

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LAND MPROVEMENT TAX

parish wherein the property is situated, and such return
shall be in the form required by the Commissioner of Inland %!985
Revenue :

Provided that-
(a) where a return has been made under the Property

Tax Act or the Parochial Rates and Finance Act,
the return so made under, and for the purposes
of, the Property Tax Act or the Parochial Rates
and Finance Act, as the case may be, shd be
deemed to be the return required by this Acr

(b) any person who makes any payment during the
month of April in any year in respect of land
improvement tax on any propaty (whether such
payment is in full, or as a moiety or instalment)
shall be deemed to have made a return in respect
of that property for the purposes of this section
and of the Tax Collection Act.

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9. Section 9 of the Property Tax Act and the Second ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t i ~ ~
Schedule thereto shall have effect in relation to the exemp- fmm
tion of property specified therein from the payment of
land improvement tax in like manner as it applies in rela-
tion to the exemption of such property from the payment
of property tax.

Minister may, by notification in the Guzetie, remit in whole
or in part any sums payable by way of land improvement
tax in respect of all or any improvement areas for any
period specified by the Minister if the Minister considers
it just or expedient so to do.

10. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary the power of

ll.--(Il The Collectors of Taxes shall keep assessment Assessment
rolls. rolls setting forth in relation to properties within their

parishes in respect of which land improvement taxes have
been hwd-

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10 LAND IMPROVEMENT TAX

(U) a description of the property;
(b ) the amounts of all sums payable by way of land

improvement tax in respect of the property and
the dates on which they are due and paid;

(c) any other particulars which the Minister may from
time to time prescribe.

(2) Assessment rolls aforesaid shall be open to public
inspection during office hours and members of the public
shall be entitled during office hours to take copies of any
entries therein.

!and 12. The Tax Collection Act and any enactment amend-
ing the same, so far as the same are applicable, shall be

enforceable incorporated and read as one with this Act, and al l taxes
Collection due under this Act may be enforced under the powers and

the provisions of the Tax Collection Act.

improve-
ment tax

under Tax

Act.

m e inclusion of tltk page is authorized by LN. 87/1986]