Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
OPPOSITION SENATORS on Friday called for the urgent adoption of tax reform recommendations put forward, by the Joseph Matalon-led Tax Policy Review Committee, earlier this year.
The Opposition senators made the call during a debate on the Assets Tax Amendment Bill, which seeks to adjust the tax fees charged to companies by the Government.
But while supporting the legislation, Opposition Senator Shirley Williams argued that several businesses were being overburdened by the tax system.
"We ought to look seriously at that tax package that was recommended by the Matalon Committee," she said. "The fact of the matter is that it said that we need to review the entire system and, if we are going to review the entire system, then these ad hoc changes would not be coming here before us."
Senator Williams said businesses today are faced with high inflation, high cost of productivity and labour.
"We have to pay high security rates because of the crime situation; we have to pay high, high energy rates, so the whole cost of production is prohibitive," she bemoaned.
She stressed it was urgent that the recommendations by the committee be reviewed.
In response, Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business, said the Government had already adopted some of the recommendations of the committee.
He added, however, that it would have been difficult to have adopted all the recommendations in one year.
Meanwhile, Opposition senator Dr. Christopher Tufton cautioned the Government not to use the legislation under consideration to arbitrarily increase taxes.
The assets tax legislation, passed with one amendment, will see companies with assets exceeding $100 million paying out $35,000 in taxes to Government. Previously, the maximum payable assets tax was $10,000.
"This Government, in particular, does have an appetite - almost an unlimited appetite - for tax revenues," he said. "The fact of the matter is it would have been bad and not so bad if the Jamaican people saw the value of where those tax dollars have gone."
Senator Anthony Johnson, Leader of Opposition Business, was critical of the adjustment of the rates, which he said reflected Government's poor fiscal management of the economy. The legislation was previously passed in the House of Representatives.
Adjustments to the assets tax
| Companies | Present tax | Previous tax |
| Assets exceeding $500,000 |
| but not $1 million | $4,000 | $1,400 |
| Assets exceeding $1million |
| but not $5million | $10,000 | $5,000 |
| Assets exceeding $5million |
| but not $10 million | $15,000 | $7,000 |
