Solar tax
published: Tuesday | November 29, 2005

THE EDITOR, Sir:

RECENTLY THE government announced that, in its efforts to reduce Jamaica's dependence on imported oil for the production of electricity, GCT was being removed from solar energy systems.

I have just discovered that what this really means is that while no GCT is charged on the solar collector panels, GCT is still payable on the batteries and inverters required to make up a complete solar generation system. Since the solar panels by themselves are of no use and the specialised batteries and inverter cannot be used independently of the panels, I cannot see the reasoning behind this short-sighted policy.

Perhaps someone in the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Technology would care to comment on this?

I am, etc.,

TREVOR BLAIR

tblair_ja@yahoo.com

Via Go-Jamaica