THE Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) today accused the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government of unsettling and depressing the country with its new tax package announced yesterday.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller said today that the taxes disproportionately affect poor Jamaicans.

“The People’s National Party and indeed the rest of the country are astonished that yet again the tax measures announced have been levied against the people of the bottom of the society and the base of the economy,” said Simpson Miller in a statement today.

Asked at a press conference today about possible protest action, she replied that the PNP was “ruling out nothing”. The party is also calling a special meeting of its second highest decision making body, its national executive council (NEC), at the University of the West Indies (UWI) on Sunday.

Simpson Miller further criticised the JLP, saying that the measures confirmed a perception of them as uncaring.

“The impact of this tax package on persons with disabilities, our senior citizens, persons who are visually impaired, persons who are recovering from major surgery cannot be described as “bad mindedness”. It can only be truthfully described as ‘wickedness’,” she said.

The tax package was the third this fiscal year and included an increase in the General Consumption Tax from 16.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent and the removal of exemptions on several food items and services that were previously not taxed on the GCT base, from which the Government expects to net $3.6 billion and $6.2 billion respectively.

Residential customers will now be expected to pay GCT on electricity usage exceeding 200 kilowatt hours per month, which the Government said would rake in $1.2 billion. However, calculations by the Jamaica Observer, based on JPS electricity sales, show that the figure will be closer to $3 billion.

The special Consumption Tax (SCT) on fuel will be increased by 15 per cent, contributing $9.4 billion to the Government coffers.

The SCT on cigarettes is being increased from the current $8,500 per 1,000 sticks to $10,500 per 1,000 sticks – adding $1.41 billion to the public purse, 20 per cent of which the Government said will be remitted to the National Health Fund (NHF).