Fiscal Incentives Regime to Boost Business

Director of Tax Policy at the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Ian Scarlette, says that the Government’s new fiscal incentives regime is aimed at fostering the development of business in Jamaica.

“The rollout of all those tax incentives… is to cause new businesses to be created, to cause existing businesses to become sustainable and move them to a state of profit making, and expand and enlarge opportunities for businesses,” he stated.

Mr. Scarlette was addressing members of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce on September 4, at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville.

The fiscal incentive regime is intended to establish a transparent and coherent scheme to govern all tax incentives.

The regime has standardised and streamlined capital allowances to become more beneficial to business operators. Businesses and individuals are now able to benefit from expanded capital allowance incentives.

Mr. Scarlette stated that the long-term goal is to change the economic fortunes, not only for business, but for every single Jamaican. “The tenet of the tax reform is to get businesses, especially small, medium and micro, to be sustainable, move to employing more people, expanding their capacity, and improve the labour productivity of Jamaican workers,” he stated.

Thursday’s meeting is part of a series of island-wide fora, organised by the Ministry and its agencies.

During the sessions, personnel from the Ministry, Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), make presentations and answer questions on the Public/Private Sector Partnership Programme (PPP), the Economic Reform Programme (ERP), the Fiscal Incentives regime and other matters.

Mr. Scarlette stated that the policies being developed and implemented must be clearly explained “to the man on the street, and we have been going to the schools, the small business associations, and explaining in fine detail, what is the Economic Reform Programme, and the broader tax reforms that we have been developing”.

Under the ERP, the Government has set a firm commitment to reducing public debt, creating macro-economic stability, improving productivity of the labour force, and enhancing investor confidence, as the major steps to achieve sustained economic growth and development.

The PPP initiative has had positive results in the expansion of the Port of Kingston, the Donald Sangster and Norman Manley International Airports, and the establishment of the North-South Highway, as well as the Agro Parks project.