KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw said he is pleased with the government’s successful implementation of the second phase of the income tax reform where the new threshold is now 1.5 million.

In a news release for the ministry, Shaw said the government’s decision to raise the threshold of Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) workers from $592,800 to $1.5 million, was an important strategic goal under the government’s ‘Partnership For Economic Growth’ and is an integral part of the overall reform, to further shift from a system of direct taxation of personal income and move toward indirect taxation.He emphasised that this specific reform is fully endorsed by our international partners, adding that he is also pleased to report that the shift in revenue from direct to indirect taxation is indeed taking place as evidenced by an increase in GCT of $5.43 billion, or 7.5 per cent in FY 2016/17 compared with the previous fiscal year.He added that this outturn shows that the increase in the PAYE threshold contributed to higher GCT revenues.The first phase of the reform took effect in July last year, when the annual personal income tax threshold moved to $1,000,272.An additional 200,000 Jamaican workers of total 469,131 are now exempt from paying PAYE because of the $1.5 million threshold, Shaw ended.