A resident has criticised Government's recent hike of the amount property owners have to pay on land tax, suggesting the tariff's band structure penalises Bermudians with large families.

In a letter to The Royal Gazette , the Paget man, who asked not to be named, said Government had appeared to have overlooked the medium sized to larger Bermudian family by charging 20 percent (less the discount) for the band exceeding an Annual Rental Value of $36,000.

"It comes down to simple logic,'' he said. "The more children you have the larger house you need.

The man added: "Parents often work extremely hard to provide adequate accommodation for their families. The more children, the more work; fine.

However, because of the new band structure and rates they may now end up paying triple land tax rate per child than single child families.

"Certainly this is not fair and one hopes the new tax is not an intended disincentive for Bermudians to have children.'' The man said that, while the budget "proudly refers'' to having sorted out a "tax cliff'' for small businesses, it has created an "inequitable land tax cliff for larger families who may not have luxury properties but merely larger houses for more children!'' He asked Government to rethink the band structure "to reflect that larger families need larger houses and should not be taxed as though they are living in luxury''.

"Either add another band or two, or provide some sort of credit for large houses with children inside so that the families are not paying more per child than the one- or two-child families.''