It is not often that Jamaica's political parties so readily move towards consensus on matters that are likely to redound to the national good.

This time, however, they have - and we welcome it. There should be no loss of momentum, so the Government should establish a timetable to implement those elements on which there is now agreement and set a clear path towards the rest.

The matter to which we refer is the long-running concern, particularly among businesses, about Jamaica's complicated tax system, particularly the raft of payroll deductions. These are the payments made to the National Housing Trust (NHT), Human Employment and Resource Training (HEART), the National Insurance Scheme and the Education Tax.

The efficacy of these taxes has long been subject to much debate, but at least on one point all agree: They are cumbersome to administer and place an expensive burden on firms to comply. Each, as the Finance Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, conceded in his Budget presentation in April, has its own requirements and peculiar rules, demanding substantial accounting man-hours.

Indeed, the Matalon Tax Committee, established by Dr. Davies earlier in the the decade, suggested in its report turned in two years ago, that these taxes be merged into a single deduction. This, from a funding standpoint, offers great possibilities.

The NHT, the state's shelter and mortgage agency, and HEART, which oversees remedial an training, draw in far more cash than it is in their capacity to spend. They essentially run huge surpluses, acknowledged in the fact that in the last fiscal year the Government was able to tap NHT for a one-off contribution of $5 billion to help finance its education transformation programme.

Indeed, this newspaper has in the past recommended that the Government reduce the employers' three per cent contribution to the NHT, leaving more funds with firms to invest and create jobs the cash might be steered into the Consolidated Fund, thereby being available to Government to conduct its business, making it less likely to constantly seek new sources of income at budget time.

Dr. Davies now wants to proceed with consolidation before the end of the fiscal year. He would prefer to have the cash going to one source, from which he would be able to fund requirements of the existing agencies, while being in a position to steer cash to areas specially targeted for development - such as education.

Audley Shaw and the Opposition agree with consolidating the various deductions into a single social security tax, which is a start. They, however, remain woolly on how the money should be used he and his party seem to be of the view that the cash should go to existing institutions and perhaps one new entity, the National Health Service, incorporating the National Health Fund that now gets its cash from 'sin' taxes.

While we agree with Mr. Shaw that the interests of the contributors to the various schemes ought to be protected, once peeled of the rhetoric, his and Dr. Davies's position appear to be not all that far apart. In that regard, we urge that they agree on a process to move the plan forward - quickly.

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