Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.

OPPOSITION Leader Portia Simpson Miller, whose party has called on the Golding administration to deliver to Jamaica a "more equitable and just (tax) package", has signalled that the People's National Party (PNP) would not accept a modified tax package.

"I don't want him to say he is going to review, yet have that same package which he merely picks out and chooses whether he keeps cornmeal, bulla or sugar," Simpson Miller told The Gleaner.

The PNP has planned six protests for various sections of the island today to signal their disgust at Government's tax package.

On Sunday, the Opposition leader told The Gleaner that aside from tax on basic food items, "there are other areas that people were not focusing on which need attention".

She said it was unacceptable that items for the disabled, as well as sporting equipment, were being taxed.

"We do not need a modification. What we need is a withdrawal. The Government must seek alternative measure to close the deficit which they created," Simpson Miller said.

Knew what jamaicans would accept

The opposition leader went on to say she knew what the Jamaican people would be prepared to accept in terms of a tax package.

"Didn't the prime minister know that people would cry, with a wicked package like that? Didn't he know that people would not be able to eat? Didn't he know that malnutrition could take over in a number of areas? It took the people to say 'no'? What is it - backra-massa business come back again?"

Meanwhile, Dr Omar Davies, the opposition spokesman on finance, told the party's National Executive Council that Government would attempt to sell the idea that a raising of the income tax threshold would compensate for increase consumption taxes.

"When you take a helper, who is going to pay more bus fare, she is going to pay more for food ... this is a burden and let no one try to contradict you. This is a cruel burden which is being imposed on the majority of the population," Davies said.

He added: "The most unjust aspect is that those at the bottom are being asked to carry the biggest burden in terms of what they can afford."