By: Binta Jaiteh
The Brikama Area Council (BAC) has debunked claims taking a unilateral decision to increase taxes, as it was alluded by the minister of Fisheries Musa Drammeh at the Parliament.
According to the minister, the BAC had taken a unilateral decision to increase taxes, which were not in line with the taxes he approved when he was the Minister of Local Government in 2019.
BAC argued that the minister failed to specify the tax that was increased by the council, citing that the minister’s “allegations” were based on unproven claims.
“Unfortunately, the Hon. Minister failed to explain which specific tax has been increased by the BAC council, which is not in the tariff, which he approved in 2019. It is contended that the Hon. Minister’s allegations were mainly based on conjecture and speculation, which is supported by no iota of facts. The issue that broached the topic in parliament related to the annual property tax rate. This was falsely claimed by the Nominated Member, Maimuna Darboe, as being increased from D300 to D2000 for properties worth more than D500,000 in capital value by the current council. This is not true, as that increment happened in 2019 and gazetted in the BAC tarrifs since 2020,” the Brikama Area Council stated.
BAC claimed that the increment was approved by the Honourable Minister Musa Drammeh in 2019 and came into effect on 1st January 2020.
BAC clarified that the council has not increased any taxes or rates from 2020 to date, stating that it instead the council is only implementing and enforcing the tariffs, which were introduced by the previous council.
BAC maintained that it rebukes any claims or insinuations that the current council has increased any taxes or rates of since, adding that such claims are false and holds no iota of truth.
“No such increments occurred, and the current council is only proactive in ensuring that everyone pays their fair share of taxes for the development of our region of the West Coast Region,” it strengths position.
