KINGSTON, Jamaica — Finance Minister Audley Shaw today announced that there will be no roll back of the new tax measures outlined last Thursday in the $13.5 billion tax package for the 2017/18 budget.

The minister, who was speaking this morning at a post-budget speech press conference at his office, also sought to assure Jamaicans that the tax on group health insurance goes directly to employers and not employees.

Shaw said “it is unlikely that companies will bother their employees by passing this on to them”.

His comments came amid backlash from insurance companies calling for the withdrawal of the 16.5 per cent General Consumption Tax (GCT) on group health insurance premiums.

Shaw added that “this group health insurance is an opportunity for the companies to see themselves playing their own part in helping to encourage further worker productivity by saying: listen, we are making here another contribution to you of $700 or $800 a month for you to preserve your health insurance even as you’re taking home more money in your pockets because of the government’s policy”.

“This is all a give and take, this is everybody working together to achieve prosperity,” he added.

Meanwhile, the finance minister sought to allay fears over the increase of the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) on fuel. He said that the tax on gas is “one of the most, if not the most efficient method of moving to indirect taxation”, adding that “it cannot be escaped by the habitual tax dodger”.

The increase, which takes effect tomorrow, ranges from $0.43

to $7.36 per litre for the various fuel types.

Other revenue measures, which were announced, include an increase in the excises on pure alcohol, and tobacco products; as well as a reduction in the minimum kilowatt usage for electricity to which GCT is applicable; increases in cost of motor vehicle licences and fees; and the re-imposition of withholding tax on general insurance premiums paid by Jamaican residents to non-residents.