Some leading corporate heads have come out criticising the Government for the $21.8 billion annualised tax package it presented in parliament yesterday.

Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) president Milton Samuda called the tax package “the beginning of the promised hardship” that Prime Minister Bruce Golding had warned would come. When Caribbean Business Report contacted Samuda yesterday, he said that while the JCC was yet to officially analyse the package, he’s dissapointed that it did not include any reform measures that would stimulate the economy and simultaneously lure more tax revenues into Government coffers.

“Initially, it’s a dissapointment that the tax package doesn’t seem to have been housed in the context of any major tax reform and that is something that the private sector generally, and certainly the JCC in particular, has been pushing for,” argued Samuda.

“We would have hoped that you’d of seen, in the unvailing of the tax package, some sort of direction towards tax reform,” he said.

Samuda said after it analyses the package as a group, the JCC will “definitely” be speaking with the government “…about the road to tax reform”.

Vincent Morrison, president of the National Workers Union (NWU), which is affiliated to the opposition People’s National Party, said that the tax measures will put more hardship on Jamaican workers and will result in increased unemployment.

“What I want the Government to understand is more taxation and more taxation won’t help the situation,” said Morrision. “More taxation becomes regressive, it becomes redundant and it creates more unemployment because it’s taking out demand out of the economy.”

Morrison called on Government to introduce tax measures aimed at stimulating the productive sector, which he argued has been neglected.

“If we don’t start to look at the productive sector now, we will be having more tax measures being introduced,” he said.

Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association, Ian Lyn, said he was appalled that the announced tax measures did not include any reform measures directed at stimulating the struggling motor vehicle industry. The JUCDA has been aggressively lobbying for the reduction of what they say are burdensome taxes levied on local automobile dealers. Just two weeks ago, the organisation proposed that overall taxes charged on the importation of 1600 cc and under motor cars be dramatically reduced to 30 per cent.

“I’m surprised that nothing was mentioned in regards to the tax package that we asked for, where working class and public sector workers, who are being ill-affected, could purchase a vehicle for under $1 million,” said Lyn. “So, the government can look forward to collecting less money or no money in the near future from the automobile industry.”

Lyn added that the tax measures intrduced yesteday were “unjust” and “counterproductive”.

“I don’t agree with this so-called tax package. I believe that the tax should’ve been equally applied to the rich,” he said. “I personally believe that all that’s going to happen is that consumption is going to be less, so they’re going to collect less.”