The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) says that its proposal to move the income tax threshold up to $1.5 million will relieve almost 120,000 Jamaican workers of the burden of personal income tax.

“We are serious about it. We are not just talking. We are not just saying it as an election gimmick,” JLP leader Andrew Holness told journalists attending a press briefing at Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston yesterday.

The press briefing was called to expand on the initial announcement made by Holness in an address to the nation last week, in which he revealed a 10-point plan for the country’s economic and social advancement and to respond to critics, including Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

He said that the proposal would mean that everyone earning $1.5 million per annum and below would not pay the personal Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax. Those earning between $1.5 million and $5 million per annum would benefit from the current threshold of $592,800, and those earning more than $5 million would not have the benefit of a threshold.

Holness said Dr Phillips’ claim that the plan would cost the country $32 billion in revenues was a miscalculation. He said that the minister had not looked at the various tax bands to see the real averages.

Instead, Holness suggested that the move would cost the Government approximately $13 billion in tax revenues and explained how the gap could be filled.

He said that increased tax compliance, as well as the use of the revenues from the special consumption tax on gasolene, which was introduced last year to finance the hedge against gas price increases, would help.

“We would help you to pay the taxes owed by putting in place a favourable tax amnesty to get the taxes in,” he said.