Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
THE FINANCE Ministry has been asked to seek ways to lower the amount of tax Jamaicans pay, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced yesterday.This would be the second such move in recent times, as last year, a Tax Reform Committee, headed by businessman Joseph M. Matalon, released a report with recommendations for alternative tax structures.
Elements of the recommendations have already been implemented.
"We are committed to the rationalisation of the NIS (National Insurance Scheme), the Education tax, HEART, the National Health Fund, and the NHT (National Housing Trust) contributions, to reduce the total percentage paid by both employers and employees which accounts for a significant percentage of the total payroll, Mr. Patterson said during an address to the House of Representatives.
To this end, he said the Finance Ministry has been mandated to engage the necessary professional expertise to identify options to reduce the pay load of both employers and employees, having a simplified system with a reduction in the number of payroll deductions, ensuring that no institution is overfunded to the detriment of any critical sector, and providing a sustainable flow of additional resources to improve the social sector, particularly health and education.
"The new system must ensure tangible evidence of benefits and funding should be linked to measurable results," Mr. Patterson stated.
He said this exercise should be completed in time for the 2006/2007 budget, preventing another transfer of NHT funds, similar to what was intended in Parliament yesterday.
Yesterday's debate in the House to amend the NHT Act so Government could withdraw $5 billion from the Fund to help transform the education sector was suspended as the Opposition refused to support the bill.
