THE government is looking at introducing outstanding tax reform proposals in 2008/2009 to help increase its revenues, Prime Minister Bruce Golding indicated yesterday.

The prime minister told members of the diplomatic and consular corps at Jamaica House that speeding up the tax reform process was one of the critical steps the government is planning to take in reducing the country’s debt to GDP ratio, which now stands at 130 per cent.

“In order to reduce the debt, and our heavy reliance on additional borrowing, we are going to have to secure more revenues. We believe that the tax system that now exists is, itself, not assisting in revenue enhancement,” the prime minister told the group.

“We have had recommendations before us for a major reform of the tax system, most of which have not been implemented. It is something that we are looking at seriously,” a release from the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) on the meeting quoted Golding as saying.

The prime minister, according to the JIS, was responding to a query from British High Commissioner to Jamaica, Jeremy Creswell, as to likely government initiatives to tackle the country’s debt issue.

In its report, which contained its recommendations for a tax policy review in 2004, a government committee headed by Joseph Matalon identified the country’s debt level relative to GDP as the most significant constraint on the tax reform effort.

The committee said then that the ratio, which was among the highest in the world, was the most challenging feature of the current economic environment.

The committee reported that, “while tax administration has undoubtedly improved in recent years, there remains a significant rate of non-compliance”.

Pointing to the other areas of focus of his administration in terms of debt and deficit reduction, the prime minister identified job creating investments as another crucial factor.

“The fastest way to increase our revenues is to increase jobs, because two-thirds of our revenues are derived either from wage deductions or from consumption tax,” Golding said.

He assured the diplomats that the government was committed to addressing the debt situation, and wants to get to the stage where debt ceilings would be set for the economy.

“We want to commit ourselves to a phased programme of debt reduction, and we are targeting ultimately to get that debt down to 95 per cent of GDP,” he said.

The prime minister called on the diplomatic corps to extend whatever assistance they could towards investments and trade opportunities that could expand local businesses.