Finance and the Public Service Minister, Audley Shaw, delivering the closing 2018/19 Budget Debate Presentation in the House of Representatives on March 21.
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Finance and the Public Service Minister, Audley Shaw, says the Government remains committed to the policy of indirect taxation intended to bring more Jamaicans into the tax net.
“I have stated before that it is the policy of this Government to fundamentally restructure and overhaul our tax regime to make it more fair and equitable by moving from direct to indirect taxation,” the minister said.
He underscored this during his closing 2018/19 Budget Debate presentation in the House of Representatives on March 21.
Shaw emphasised that the Government uses revenue inflows to provide a range of services that benefit individuals and organisations.
These, he pointed out, include roads, citizen security and public safety, education and healthcare.
“However, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the informal sector (across) Jamaica who are not paying their fair share towards these basic services, because they are not paying income taxes, a direct tax,” Shaw stressed.
He explained that direct taxes are paid directly to the Government. These include income tax and corporate tax, which, he noted, are paid by a relatively small number of persons and entities.
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