I live in a home located in a prime area, and it has been my family residence for the last 68 years.

Over the years, there has been an influx of expatriates, with budgets presumably paid for by their multinational corporation employers, who have chosen to reside in the area.

This has resulted in many owners renting out their premises, with rental income escalating to all-time highs.

This has, in turn, increased the annual value of properties in the area, as the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) bases its computation on the market rents of comparable or similar properties.

It’s a methodology which penalises residents in owner-occupied properties who have lived in their homes for a long time. Many of these residents are retirees who enjoy living in their homes rather than sell or lease them out.

The property tax of my home was revised to $3,420 for 2021. This was again revised to $5,076 for 2022, and further revised to $10,512 for 2023.

The lower tax rate for owner-occupied properties is not sufficient to compensate for these revisions.

For non-owner-occupied properties, the landlords simply increase the rental in the next cycle to offset the increase in property tax, which then kicks off another cycle of higher annual value revisions for the next assessment year.

I hope some consideration will be given to taxpayers of owner-occupied properties, particularly those who are retirees in prime areas, and that some review will be done on the property tax concessions for such premises.

Edmund Maury Baker