to pull in nearly $7 million in charges, it was revealed yesterday.

And home owners in the most popular areas will likely find themselves harder hit under the new evaluation.

But 75 percent of land tax payers will pay less -- and a three-pronged approach will guarantee the cheaper deal for most.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox said the Annual Rental Value would go up for the first time in a decade -- but the rate of tax would be lowered.

He added: "Even though the ARVs go up dramatically, the tax payable need not, if we lower the rate of the tax.

"In fact, even though ARVs will be going up this year, we estimate that the land tax payable in respect of 75 percent of the residential properties is going to decrease.'' The rate of tax payable in all five land tax categories has been reduced, while the tax bill for private homes has been cut by 60 percent of the tax calculated.

Mr. Cox said: "It's a discount, if you want to put it that way.'' And pensioners will get a 50 percent discount, with the tax-free part of the ARV being increased from $20,000 to $30,000.

He added: "As a result of these measures to make sure the taxpayer is not unduly burdened by land tax increases, 75 percent of properties will be assessed for less tax than before.

Land tax "For 25 percent of residential properties and for commercial properties, there will be an increase.

"But these properties are all in the higher tax bands -- most of them involve ARVs in excess of $28,000 a year.'' And Mr. Cox added that Government will rake in the region of $6.9 million in extra tax, taking the annual income from land tax up to $34.6 million.

Mr. Cox admitted the independent Auditor of Government books had highlighted massive shortfalls in tax collection -- including land tax.

But he said the land tax alterations would run for the current fiscal year only, instead of the usual five year review period.

Mr. Cox said: "We wanted a window of opportunity to review the remaining years so we can get up to the 100 percent.'' And he warned that further hikes in land tax could not be ruled out in the future.

But he added the one-year tax break would also give Government time to make its promised massive review of the entire tax structure in Bermuda -- with a report scheduled to be ready for Cabinet next month.

Mr. Cox also said an appeals procedure was available -- and signalled that special cases, like people with larger homes but low incomes, could also be singled out for tax relief.

The revaluation process was carried out by staff from the Environment Ministry under Arthur Hodgson.

Mr. Hodgson said: "Because these ARVs are related to the current market value of property, most property owners will find their assessments have gone up very substantially since 1989.

"Changes in rental levels between these periodic revaluations of property are very often not uniform across the country. Rentals in some popular areas can go up substantially more than rentals in less popular areas.

The new valuation list is available at the Land Tax Office in Hamilton's Global House, Post Offices across the Island and on the Internet at www.landvaluation.bm.

Tax men: Land Valuation Office head Chris Farrow, Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson and Finance Minister Eugene Cox announce land tax changes yesterday.

Graphic file name: HELPME Land tax up for businesses, down for most homeowners