For years now, we have consistently urged the Government to think big in relation to investment, pointing to the fight put up by Washington state in the USA to keep Boeing’s 777X, after 24 states started bidding for the assembly plant during a dispute between Boeing and the machinists union.

Boeing eventually decided not to relocate after Washington state approved nearly US$9 billion in tax breaks for the aircraft manufacturer, as their calculation showed that keeping the plant there would result in US$21.3 billion in tax revenue for 15 years, based on a total of approximately 57,000 jobs.

The state’s legislators also offered Boeing new incentives over 16 years, including a 40 per cent reduction in business and occupation taxes, US$3.5 billion in tax credits for the development of the aircraft, a US$562-million property tax credit on land and buildings, a US$242-million sales tax exemption for purchasing computers, and US$8 million allocated in fiscal year 2015 to train another 1,000 workers.

Additionally, we highlighted the decision of Forbes Media, publisher of Forbes magazine, to move 350 jobs from New York to New Jersey because of an offer of US$27.1 million in tax incentives over 10 years.

The New Jersey Economic Development Agency had calculated that Forbes’ move would result in a net estimated benefit to the state of US$72 million over 20 years.

Those numbers, we had noted, may sound intimidating to a Government strapped for cash and which wants to collect every cent in order to ensure that the country does not default on its debt obligations.

And, while we acknowledged the importance of strong fiscal management, we had made the point that it must be balanced with a growth policy to pull the country from the economic pit into which it had plunged due to many years of ‘run wid it’ economics.

We are therefore encouraged by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke’s announcement on Tuesday that the Government will, by next March, table legislation designed to attract billionaire investors to Jamaica with the aid of a transparent incentive package.

According to Dr Clarke, the Government intends to amend the Large Scale Projects and Pioneer Industries (Tax Relief) Act to make it operational. He explained that while the Act was passed in 2013 to provide a suite of incentives for companies making substantial investments in Jamaica and/or creating new industries, the requisite regulations had not been done. Therefore, no applications were processed.

The process of drafting the regulations, he said, revealed significant gaps in the legislation, namely rules for determining what “large scale” and “pioneer” mean, lack of clarity on the types of incentives to be provided and non-specificity on the administration of those incentives, including the application process, claw-backs for non-performance and how the orders are to be structured and administered.

The Act, Dr Clarke told us, aims to attract investments of US$1 billion or more to Jamaica and there are projects forthcoming that fit the bill.

We look forward to the tabling of those amendments and hope that our legislators will examine them thoroughly to ensure an improvement in the investment climate here.

The usual naysayers will, of course, rush to judgement on this matter, but people who wish this country well and want to see improvements in the lives of Jamaicans will appreciate the value of thinking and acting big.