NEWLY ELECTED president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), Lloyd Goodleigh, has listed tax reform as a key element required for putting Jamaica on a path to growth.

Speaking during the JCTU fourth annual congress at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston on Saturday, Goodleigh said the current tax system is a disincentive to economic growth.

"You have an ineffective tax system which is a tax on labour," Goodleigh said.

While stressing the need for Government to move quickly to address the problem, which he said often causes potential investors to turn away from Jamaica, Goodleigh said current income tax compliance puts an unfair burden on pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) workers.

"Most Jamaicans pay no income tax. The people who pay income tax are the PAYE people ... If you can vote and you work, you must pay your taxes," Goodleigh said.

Recently, Prime Minister Bruce Golding signalled to private practitioners who do not pay taxes through PAYE that the tax authorities are devising a strategy to collect from them.

Inequitable

"We are looking at the tax system because the tax system is inequitable; it makes us uncompetitive in attracting investment; and it puts a heavy burden on some people while other people get away," Golding said.

In his budget presentation last year, Golding said that, apart from PAYE contributors, only 4,000 other persons are paying income tax.

The prime minister said the current structure of the tax system as it relates to PAYE "puts a heavy burden on the poor people".

"They don't have the means to avoid or evade paying their taxes," Golding said.

The prime minister spared no punches, singling out groups such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, shopkeepers and bus drivers who are among the chief evaders, many of whose names, he said, are not even on the tax roll.

"It is not fair for to the PAYE people to be carrying this burden while the persons who are earning the millions don't," Golding said.

Meanwhile, Goodleigh is to be supported on the JCTU's new executive by vice-presidents Lambert Brown, Robert Chung, Helene Davis White, Wellesley Nelson, Marva Phillips and Danny Roberts.

Wayne Jones, who had served until Saturday as interim president, is the new general secretary. His deputies are Keith Comrie, George Fife, Ray Howell and Clifton Grant.

Rights protected

The new president has said that the current poor world economic climate will present several problems for the workers but is adamant that workers' rights will be protected.

"In coming weeks, and months and years, we are going to have to live by our charter ... to defend the workers of Jamaica and to advance the national interest. That was what we were formed for," Goodleigh said.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com