PALLISTER RAPPED FOR BACK TAXES ON VACATION HOME

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has been penalized for taxes owing on his vacation home in Costa Rica. Pallister said he failed to update the evaluation of his property as required by Costa Rica law, which meant he didn’t pay a national tax on luxury homes. “The valuations were supposed to have been, in hindsight, done every three years and you’re responsible for doing them,” Pallister said. “At the outset, we were never advised that we owed anything on this, and actually were told we were not in this (luxury) category, so we had no reason to believe ... that we would owe anything.” Pallister said he paid what he owed — roughly $8,000 in back taxes and penalties — after going to Costa Rica last week to clear up the issue that has dogged him for months in the legislature and in the media.