Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo has explicitly distinguished the newly implemented Landlord Tax from the previous administration’s controversial property tax, asserting fundamental differences in their underlying principles. In a December 7th interview with Newsday, Minister Tancoo addressed what he characterized as misinformation being propagated about the fiscal measure passed within the Finance Bill, 2025.
The Minister clarified that while the former People’s National Movement (PNM) government’s property tax targeted private homeowners based on assumed rental income that often didn’t exist, the current Landlord Tax specifically targets actual revenue generation. “The property tax was based on residential income which did not exist,” Tancoo stated. “Home owners were being asked to pay a tax on income that they were not generating. That, in itself, was manifestly unethical and unfair.”
Tancoo emphasized that the new tax regime focuses exclusively on landlords engaged in commercial activity who have remained unregistered and non-compliant with tax obligations. “We are not taxing fake income, we are taxing real income which should have been taxed in the first place,” he explained, characterizing rental income as a legitimate revenue stream that warrants taxation.
The Finance Minister revealed that according to former administration estimates, there are approximately 100,000 landlords operating in Trinidad and Tobago who would fall under the purview of this tax. He notably pointed out that some government ministers themselves, described as “substantial landowners” receiving rent from the government, had not been contributing fairly to public coffers.
Tancoo defended the current policy as “much more equitable, just and legal” than its predecessor, noting that the administration had consistently opposed taxing private residences while in opposition. The Landlord Tax specifically exempts homeowners who do not generate revenue from their properties, distinguishing it fundamentally from the previous approach that assessed taxes based on potential rental value rather than actual income.