KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller this afternoon continued the People’s National Party (PNP) chastening of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government over their “unjust, counterproductive” tax package, which she said has “no heart”.

She said the $13.5-billion revenue measures outlined in the budget will be a burden to small business operators, unemployed people, taxi operators, pensioners, students, and the elderly and sick.

“This budget puts pressure on the backs of Jamaican people. It did not have to be so, this could have been avoided,” Simpson Miller said, as she reminded the Government that they were warned that if the income tax threshold was moved to $1.5 million, new taxes would have to be imposed.

“Now hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans will have to pay even though they will not benefit,” she reasoned.

“It is the biggest political trick to have been perpetrated on the Jamaican people,” she quoted an unidentified source.

The former prime minister charged that it was the “reckless political promises” of the JLP Administration “without consideration for the fiscal realities of the country” that resulted in Jamaicans having to pay for the reigning party’s “political expediency”.

She argued that the tax package presented by Finance Minister Audley Shaw last Thursday was a “double whammy” for electricity users as the government lowered the threshold for taxable electricity usage in addition to increasing the tax on fuel.

Shaw, in his budget presentation, announced the lowering of the kilowatt-hour usage for residential electricity that GCT is charged on from 350kwh per month to 150kwh, an increase in tax on fuel and a 16.5 per cent GCT on group health insurance premiums among other taxes.

“The crisis facing the health sector is already causing

severe hardships on our population. Tell me, how can you impose a tax on group

health premiums?” Simpson Miller posed to members of the governing body.

She noted that many small companies will come under pressure

to meet the obligations for their employees and also many individuals will

stand to lose their benefits, which for many are a lifeline.

“That is no prosperity its ‘taxperity’,” Simpson Miller quipped.

Citing anecdotes of people who would have to bear the brunt of the taxes, Simpson Miller charged that this notion of prosperity is a “fleeting illusion to be pursued but never attained”.

“People are going to have to pay dearly if the government does not roll back these taxes,” she continued.

“This did not have to be so, it could have been avoided,” Simpson Miller repeated, as she urged the government to “draw brakes and pull a reverse on these wicked tax measures”.

Shanica Blair and Moya Hinds