Private sector offers J$7b in tax-reform savings
Published:Wednesday | February 29, 2012 | 12:00 AM
An amalgam of private-sector groups on Tuesday proposed to raise J$7.3 billion in new revenue annually for Government via 145 tax-reform measures aimed at widening the tax net while radically reducing the tax burden on corporations and the poor.
Measures include slashing by half the taxation on wealthy corporations from 33 per cent to 15 per cent; slashing tax on employees earning under J$1.1 million to 15 per cent, while eliminating tax waivers and removing most GCT-exempt items.
"The package of tax reforms proposed has been designed with a view to ensuring that Jamaica implements a tax regime which is more equitable, transparent, accessible to all Jamaicans and, in particular, which provides greater resources to be made available to serve and protect the most vulnerable in our society," said Joseph M. Matalon, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), on Tuesday.
Matalon expects some of these measures to be adapted as early as April 1.
The PSOJ led the Private Sector Working Group (PSWG) consisting of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association, Jamaica Exporters' Association, Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, Jamaica Bankers' Association, among other trade associations, whose position on tax reform was announced in Kingston.
However, the group remains in discussions with the Jamaica Stock Exchange and Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association about the removal of 10-year waivers allowed junior-market companies and hospitality businesses.
"We are still in discussion with those groups," said Senator Imani Duncan-Price, a representative of the PSWG, in the question-and-answer segment.
The finalisation of the PSWG's position on tax reform allows the Parliamentary Committee on Tax Reform to wrap up the public consultations on planned legislation.