JLP's Creary's rejects Crawford's proposal for GCT increase to fund education

Senior Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member Richard Creary has rejected as "unwise and unconscionable" the proposal from Opposition spokesman Damion Crawford to increase the general consumption tax (GCT) to fund the education sector.

A one percentage point increase in GCT would yield $25 billion in revenue, said Senator Crawford of the People's National Party at a Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools conference in Trelawny on the weekend. 

Jamaica's GCT on goods and services is 15 per cent. 

However, Creary, a deputy general secretary for the ruling JLP, is dismissing the proposal and urging Jamaicans to "take careful note of the PNP spokesman's call for a tax increase".

"The Jamaica Labour Party is proud of its record of not imposing any new taxes on Jamaicans over the past eight years," noted a statement from Creary on Wednesday.

It added: "Jamaicans should not return to the days where the PNP heaped billions of dollars of taxes on the backs of the Jamaican people and pursued policies which devastated the people but greatly benefited a few politically connected individuals". 

Creary said the JLP "has managed the economy skillfully and has been able to a large extent cushion the impact on Jamaicans of rising cost of living across the world".

"However, due to several developments across the globe, some local prices have inevitably increased which has posed a challenge to some consumers. In this context, Crawford's call for an increase in GCT is particularly unwise and unconscionable and should be rejected in its strongest form," he said. 

Meanwhile, Creary said Jamaica allocates approximately 20 per cent of its budget and five per cent of its gross domestic product to education, and "this puts Jamaica in the upper tier in the world in terms of allocation of national resources to education". 

Creary said instead of proposing tax increases, the PNP should support the Government's reforms in the education system. 

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