Jamaica and Other Caribbean States - economic aspects of the area's land use - Statistical Data Included

The move toward land-value taxation (LVT) in Jamaica commenced in 1943 (19 years before independence) with the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry chaired by the Hon. Simon Bloomberg. Its charge was to examine, with particular reference to their effect upon parochial revenue, the incidence, assessment, and collection of real property taxes under the existing system based on the combined capital value of land and buildings, to determine whether that system should be retained or replaced by another. As a result of its investigations, the Commission recommended that the existing system be replaced by one that made unimproved land value the sole basis for the taxation of real property, whether urban, suburban, or rural. This recommendation was endorsed by the Mission of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in a report, 'The Economic Development of Jamaica' (1952).'