By Denise Clarke, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE JAMAICAN private sector has conceded that new tax measures are inevitable in next month's budget presentation.
Arising from the three-day retreat between the government and private sector leaders at the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay, it was agreed that increased taxation and widening of the tax net were measures deemed necessary in light of the current economic crisis.
"We have to reduce the size of the fiscal debt; we have to contain the proportion of budgetary allocation that is devoted to wages and allowances; we have to widen the tax net and we have to have a more efficient system of revenue collection," Prime Minister P.J. Patterson emphasised in his closing statement at the retreat yesterday.
The Government again committed to the elimination of the budget deficit, now running at over eight per cent of Gross Domestic Product, over a three-year period, and the containment of the public debt. It was also agreed that the government needed to reduce public spending particularly in the area of wages.
The need for a wage containment policy was also discussed, and the government was asked to revisit its '80 per cent of market' agreement with civil servants.
In a joint statement, both groups accepted that further mechanisms were needed to lower interest rates in order to facilitate the expansion of existing projects and stimulate real investments; and that Jamaicans overseas presented great opportunity.
"This meeting is of the view that a great resource to be tapped must be our Jamaicans overseas having regard to their professionalism and the desire to encourage mobilisation of savings..." Mr. Patterson said.
Corruption in the public and private sector was also discussed and both groups agreed to work together to tackle the issue.
"We have to work to eliminate corruption wherever it exists in the public domain, in the private domain, integrity has to be a hallmark of the Jamaican society. We have to ensure greater levels of constant public accountability," said Mr. Patterson.
Peter Bunting, Chairman of the investment firm Dehring, Bunting and Golding, expressed optimism about the ideas presented at the retreat.
"We came out with a lot of things to work on and mechanisms to follow up on them, and I think most of all there was a sense that we were all pulling in the same direction. I think in terms of the working group to monitor and carry out the implementation, that's a good sign," Mr. Bunting said.
