Homeowners are being punished by the Government for achieving their goal of home ownership by having to pay the increased property taxes, says Opposition MP Winston ’Gypsy’ Peters.

’It is now a crime basically to own a house because you are being taxed for doing so,’ Peters said last evening during the House of Representatives debate on the 2009/2010 Budget at the Red House, Port of Spain.

He called the tax a ’punitive one’, as he expressed the discontent that many home-owners, business-owners and tenants are feeling about the measure, which will see an increase in commercial, agricultural and residential property taxes based on the rentable value of any property.

’People who have ambition and they work and save their little money and they buy a house. I have been working since I was 13 years old. I was selling bottles and catching fish and picking coconuts and catching crab and I build a house, and today when I feel I could live comfortable in my house, I am told I have to pay some kinda punitive tax just for owning it,’ Peters said.

As he did so, one Government MP shouted that he had been paying property taxes when he lived in the United States.

While not confirming the claim, Peters said: ’When I lived in New York and you pay tax, you get everything. More water in the pipes, you have lights, you could walk out in the road and nobody will lick you down, you could walk in any part of the place. The murder rate in New York is lower than the murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago with ten million people.’

He also questioned what he said was the Government’s preference for Chinese construction firms and workers over their local counterparts to carry out multi-million dollar State projects.

’What is this obsession with Chinese people?’ Peters asked.

He drew further comments from Government MPs when he agreed with Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday-with whom he has been in a feud over the leadership of the United National Congress (UNC)-that Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) workers need to be involved in agricultural initiatives that can contribute more directly to the economy. Panday had expressed this position during his response to the 2009/2010 Budget earlier.

’I have to agree with him because I share those sentiments,’ Peters said.

’Who is your leader?’ shouted one Government MP who made reference to the fact that he and Opposition MPs Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Jack Warner are leading a campaign for change in the UNC.

Peters at first commended the CEPEP workers for their work, but then said CEPEP Co Ltd is the 16th State-owned special purpose enterprise established by the Government and has had, since its inception, a budget of over $2 billion. ’Grass-cutting will never be an industry nor will it contribute to the GDP,’ Peters said.

Peters also raised his concerns that the Government, which is now managing the country with a deficit budget, is committed to spending $300 million on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Port of Spain in November.