The Government has announced it will, in May, dilute the planned tax on sugary drinks, responding to complaints from the industry that the tax should be placed on the amount of sugar added and not the overall volume of content in non-alcoholic sweetened beverages.

We in this space have indicated our support for the tax on the basis of the Administration’s avowed plan to use it in the fight to make Jamaicans more healthy, by launching an assault on obesity, diabetes, and a raft of other non-communicable diseases which are aided and abetted by excess sugar.

The decision to adjust the special consumption tax (SCT) as part of the 2026/27 budget would ensure that the tax would only apply depending on whether a beverage has no added sugar, a modest amount, or a higher sugar content.

From a strictly financial standpoint, that is a fair formula, or “more effective and equitable”, as stated by Finance Minister Fayval Williams in closing the Budget Debate on Tuesday in Parliament.

However, we suspect that if the motive is really just about promoting health, the Government would soon be going after more than sugary drinks to target products like cakes, buns, and the myriad other products feeding consumers with a sweet tooth.

One continues to hope that the narrative being used by the Health and Wellness Ministry is the real deal. Of course, we will know soon enough if there is any move to try to claw back potentially lost revenue from elsewhere, in order to realise the $10.1 billion initially expected from the SCT on sugary drinks.

Jamaican governments like to grab money for special purposes which often do not turn out as intended. The gas tax and the education tax are two such. The big exception has been the National Housing Trust, that different administrations are now more frequently raiding, whatever the pretext they give.

Jamaican governments would not find themselves in such a pecuniary position if they would just summon up the courage to broaden the tax net, so that more people and entities are sharing the tax burden.

It is ridiculous, for example, that out of a total of 1.4 million people in the labour force, there are only 700,000 registered taxpayers, and then only 30 per cent, or 210,000 of them, are earning above the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) threshold and therefore liable for income tax, according to think tank Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI).

According to CAPRI, when all that is adjusted for the full labour force, the effective share of income tax payers is 15 per cent or less.

“Perhaps most concerning is the Government’s increasing reliance on income taxes,” said CAPRI. “Over the past five years their share of total revenue has jumped from 24 to 31 per cent.” And for Jamaicans 65 and over, pension earnings are still taxed, albeit above $6 million per year, at a time when earnings are stagnant.

There are scores of small businesses all across Jamaica which pay nothing in income tax. Perhaps it is the great fear of their voting prowess, or it is laziness, that keeps the tax man away from them.

The two major political parties might wish to seek agreement on this issue, for the sake of Jamaica.