KINGSTON, Jamaica — Government Senator Keith Duncan is defending the nearly $30 billion in new taxes recently announced by Finance Minister Fayval Williams for the 2026/2027 fiscal year.

“Tax revenues are down because the economy has slowed, and tax expenditures are up because we have to fix the damage that is there. So somewhere you have to close the gap, and we can’t just borrow our way out,” he said, citing significant losses incurred by the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28, 2025.

Included in the new taxes are an increase in the environmental protection levy, special consumption taxes on sweetened beverages, cigarettes and alcohol and a General Consumption Tax (GCT) on digital services and intangibles from overseas.

Commenting on the decision, Duncan, who is also the CEO of the JMMB Group, said, “We have to, as a country, look at measures that can help us to close that deficit because we cannot exceedingly spend more than we earn as a country.  So we’ve got to figure that out and close the gap as best as we can.”