PSOJ

Amidst wide speculation on the extent of the impending tax package to be imposed by the Government in the new fiscal year, the Honourable Audley Shaw, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, opened the 2009/10 Budget Debate today, tabling Ministry Paper No. 26/09, containing the new revenue measures to be effected. Being the Golding Administration's second Budget Presentation since taking office, the measures could be taken as indicative of the Administration's policy direction and its strategy to respond to the effects of the present global economic crisis. What is evident is that the administration is committed to further implementing the recommendations under the Final Report of the Tax Policy Review Committee to the Government of Jamaica, prepared in 2004, by the Matalon Committee (hereafter called "the Matalon Report").