Jamaica’s Proposed Digital Tax: The Hidden Risk No One Is Talking About

by Michael Mullings, Founder of ChatFlow

Much of the conversation around the proposed GCT on digital services focuses on fairness, ensuring overseas providers pay their share. That’s reasonable. But there’s another view we need to examine: This may quietly tax Jamaica’s digital growth. Large platforms like Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe, and Google will comply.

They already handle VAT/GST globally.

The likely outcome isn’t geo-blocking, it’s cost pass-through. And that’s where the real impact lies. For startups, SMEs, and even public institutions, the modern business stack includes:

• Microsoft 365

• Cloud infrastructure

• AI tools

• SaaS subscriptions

• Developer platforms

A 15% increase across the stack doesn’t look dramatic on paper. But in aggregate, it raises operating costs, tightens margins, and slows innovation. We’re not a negligible market, but we’re also not influential enough to shape pricing decisions. We’ll absorb them. If the goal is fairness in taxation, the policy must also safeguard digital adoption, entrepreneurship, and global competitiveness. Otherwise, we risk solving a revenue problem while creating a growth problem. The real question isn’t whether we tax digital services, it’s how we do so without taxing our future.