CaPRI co-director endorses Govt’s income tax plan
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Co-Executive Director of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) and Head of Department of Economics at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr Damien King, has endorsed the Government’s plan to finance its $1.5 million personal income tax plan through increased Special Consumption Taxes (SCT).
Dr King indicated through social media, Twitter, yesterday following the announcement of the plan by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, that the shift to consumption tax, specifically on petrol and travel, is a good move.
Opening the budget debate yesterday afternoon, Shaw announced just over $13 billion in additional taxes to make up for the $12.65 billion the government will give up with the raising of the income tax threshold from $592,800 to $1 million come July 1.
Dr King also indicated that, with this move, the tax burden has been shifted from what he describes as the “over-burdened formal sector workers to those who evade income taxes”.
Balford Henry
