REPRESENTATIVES OF Jamaica's publishing industry warned yesterday that the new tax measures proposed by the Government, would increase the price of reading material and be detrimental to the advancement of literacy.
They called on Government to postpone and review the measures until a meeting can be held to further discuss the matters.
The statement, issued last night, read:
"A group of representatives from the Book, Newspaper, and Publishing Industries met today to review the impact of the recently-announced GCT measures and the import Cess on companies. The group concluded that, in addition to the negative effect on businesses, these taxes will be detrimental
to the advancement of literacy in Jamaica.
"If the new measures are implemented, consumers will face further increases for reading materials such as books, periodicals and newspapers. Whilst the Minister has sought to exempt School Books, there will be numerous definitional problems with what is considered 'school books', having regard to the wide range of books and materials which are used from nursery to university.
"In addition, the Group warned that all newspapers produce educational supplements at highly subsidised costs and these are now under threat from these measures.
"Another major issue is one of timing. The Group states that it is not feasible for some of the proposed measures to be introduced by the announced May 1st deadline. These companies' business processes, such as computer systems, cannot accommodate the necessary changes in the timeframe being proposed by the Minister of Finance and Planning.
"The Group is demanding that the Minister immediately clarify the issue of the 4 per cent cess on imports. The cess was originally announced as a pre-payment on corporate profits tax, but is now being mooted as non-refundable, unless companies are able to offset the amount against their tax liability during the current financial year.
"The Group is calling on Government to postpone and review the new tax measures until a meeting can be held to further discuss these matters."
