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Property Tax Administration in Practice: A Case Study of the Portmore Municipality, Jamaica

The objective of this study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of the practical working of property tax administration in Jamaica. It highlights the major enforcement and compliance practices along with how the invisible and underlying interactions of actors in the field shape these practices. It also explores those issues and circumstances along with the existing patterns of interests which have contributed to the continued practice of the central administration of the property tax. The study also emphasizes struggles in the property tax field between the various players: the tax authority, the politicians, the developers, the local authorities, the central government and the taxpayers and how each one uses its capital to maintain or dominate its position within the property tax field. The findings revealed that there were various tensions and struggles among the different players within property tax field in Jamaica. The players in the field used their ‘capitals’ to maintain, dominate and or attempt to make changes to the property tax rules. The findings suggest that some property tax enforcement practices were the means through which these tensions were manifested and resolved or on the other hand, the tax authority attempted to use the current practices as hidden agendas to highlight those tensions in order to stand their ground or obliquely suggest changes or even to demonstrate its tacit support of government policies. The findings also suggest that the non-localization of the property tax may be due to varied political interests, mistrust in the local authorities and also the perception by some players that there’s a lack of capital at the local level to manage the tax. Finally, taxpayers’ used their social, economic and cultural capital to resist enforcement and compliance efforts cheating the government of much needed revenues Property tax although not an important national tax is a critical source of revenue for local communities globally. An increased understanding of the Capital	
  here	
  takes	
  the	
  Bourdieusian	
  perspective.	
  	
  It	
  is	
  anything	
  that	
  has	
  significance	
  or	
  is	
  capable	
  of being	
  influential,	
  and	
  includes	
  all	
  forms	
  of	
  power	
  whether	
  they	
  be	
  economic,	
  material,	
  cultural,	
  social	
  or symbolic	
  (See	
  section	
  3.5.3)