Eight years, no new taxes, says Clarke
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaicans will, for an eighth straight year, be faced with no new taxes.
This was triumphantly declared on Tuesday by the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke, at the end of a four-hour long opening presentation in the 2023/24 Budget Debate inside Gordon House.
The declaration was met with sustained applause from Members of Parliament on the government benches.
Clarke also noted that it was the sixth consecutive budget cycle where the government has reduced tax rates.
“This is all under the Andrew Holness Administration lest anybody mistakes that,” Clarke remarked.
He said: “We have done so because we’re committed to not only preserving our economic recovery but to increase in it, and more importantly to share the gains with the people of Jamaica.
“We’re being very clinical by finding those nuisance areas where the tax yield is very low but the frustration is very high, where we earn little from the taxes but we stymie economic activity and we are fixing those areas”.
Clarke added that “We believe in Jamaica, we believe and support the people of Jamaica. We’re firmly committed to providing the economic environment and resources necessary to ensure that the people of Jamaica grow and prosper.
“As we experience gain from economic reform and economic recovery this government has shown that we continue to share those gains with the people of Jamaica”.
