“Church People Must Pay Their Property Tax Just as How They Pay Offering”: A Mayor’s Warning in Manchester

• Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell urged better property tax compliance across Manchester
• He said churchgoers must pay property tax as faithfully as they give offerings
• He said most arrears were owed by people with money and businesses, not the poor
• He called for coordinated enforcement by tax, planning, police and health agencies

In June 2021 the mayor of Mandeville used a municipal meeting to make a point that landed close to the pew. Donovan Mitchell, who is also councillor for the Royal Flat Division, told the Manchester Municipal Corporation that the parish needed better tax compliance, and that churchgoers were no exception.

“Church people must pay their property tax just as how they pay offering, that is what the law says,” Mitchell said, according to the Jamaica Observer.

His wider point was about fairness. “Poor people pay property taxes,” he said, arguing that most of the arrears were owed by people who have money and businesses. He called for coordinated enforcement involving Tax Administration Jamaica, the National Environment and Planning Agency, the police and public health authorities, and pointed to about 100 car marts operating in Manchester that he suggested should be checked for trade licences and tax compliance.

Mitchell tied property tax directly to local services, particularly sanitation, which municipal corporations fund partly from those collections. The Observer report did not suggest he was targeting church buildings themselves; church properties used for worship are generally exempt under the Property Tax Act. His target was the homes and businesses of people who show up faithfully on Sunday but fall behind with the tax office.

The remark captures something many Jamaicans recognise: generous giving to the church can sit alongside unpaid bills to the State. For homeowners at home and in the diaspora, unpaid property tax is not a small matter. Arrears grow with penalties, can complicate a sale or transfer, and weaken a family’s claim when land disputes arise. For churches, teaching good stewardship could include a simple message from the pulpit: pay the land tax, keep the receipt and protect the family property.

Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com