MINIwe said yesterday that no amount of “protestation or posturing” can make Opposition Leader Mark Golding’s claim of a $99- billion projected tax revenue windfall in 2022/23 accurate.

“The Opposition leader stated in his budget presentation that the Government plans to collect $99 billion more in taxes this coming year. This is incorrect and the inaccuracy is unfortunate,” Dr Clarke said in his release.

He said that to compute how much more the Government plans to collect in taxes this coming year, one would have to subtract the latest estimated amount of taxes to be collected this year (2021/22) from the projected amount of taxes to be collected next year (2022/23).

According to the minister, the 2021/22 projected revenue figure, as contained in the second supplementary estimates tabled and passed in the House of Representatives in January, showed that estimated tax revenues for the fiscal year, which ends March 31, is approximately $606 billion.

The figure is contained in the second supplementary estimates, which was tabled and passed in the House of Representatives in January 2022, showing that the most recent estimated tax revenue for 2021/22 is approximately $606 billion. This compares with projected tax collection for 2022/23 of $671 billion. Tax revenues are therefore expected to grow by the difference between these two numbers, which is $65 billion.

He said that the figure is included on page six of the 2022/23 Fiscal Policy Paper (FPP) which summarises the second and third supplementary estimates, inclusive of the expected revenue for 2021/22 of $606 billion.

The minister said that, from a statement released by the People’s National Party (PNP) of which Golding is the leader, it would appear as if the Opposition leader had picked up a figure from the column “Estimates 2021/22” in the 2022/23 Revenue Estimates, and interpreted it as the latest estimates of tax collection for 2021/22.

“This is an unfortunate error of interpretation by the Opposition leader. Terms and headings in budgetary documents have very precise and specific meanings which, admittedly, can be confusing. This column actually refers to revenue estimates for 2021/22 as at February 2021, that is the 2021/22 budget as originally tabled, and this formatting is not new,” the finance minister explained.

Dr Clarke had raised the issue in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, and responded to a release from the PNP on Tuesday which had rejected his position and which insisted that Golding’s $99-billion windfall figure was correct.

According to the Opposition, the minister had wrongfully accused the Opposition leader of providing incorrect data in his presentation on the additional tax revenues the Government plans to raise.

The release said that the Opposition leader had correctly indicated that the Government plans to raise additional tax revenues of $99 billion. It also said that the figure came from a tabled “Revenue Estimates 2022/23”, which showed Government plans to take in tax revenues of $671 billion for the Financial Year 2022/23, up from $572 billion for 2021/22.

“The Opposition is calling on the minister of finance to apologise for misleading the House and contradicting data from his own ministry,” their release stated.

But, Clarke responded that the Jamaican economy has been robust and revenues have surpassed initial projections by an appreciable amount. He said that the revenue estimates for 2021/22 were revised in the First Supplementary Estimates in September 2021 and in the Second Supplementary Estimates in January 2022. The revised estimates are also available on the Ministry of Finance’s website, he pointed out.

He said the simple fact is that the Government plans to collect $65 billion more in taxes next fiscal year 2022/23, which begins on April 1, as compared with the current fiscal year 2021/22, without the imposition of any new taxes or tax increases.

“No amount of protestation or posturing can make the Opposition leader’s claim accurate. It is my duty and responsibility as minister of finance to correct an inaccuracy of this nature in the public domain,” the minister insisted.

“I do not, and did not, intend to embarrass the leader of the Opposition. Budgetary accounting terms are notorious for having meanings that vary from ‘common interpretation’. However, it is vitally important that the public has the facts on this matter,” he concluded.