PNP pledges no income tax for Jamaicans earning $3.5 million or less

People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding has pledged that Jamaicans earning $3.5 million or less annually will pay no income tax if his party wins the September 3 general election.

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Golding made the announcement Sunday night before thousands of supporters packed into Mandeville Square for a mass rally. The pledge came just hours after the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) unveiled its own proposal to gradually reduce the personal income tax rate to 15 per cent from the current 25 per cent.

“We are going to deal with that matter in a way that benefits those who need it more,” Golding declared. “Under the PNP government that is to come, we will be increasing the tax threshold so that those who pay taxes at 25 per cent, if they are earning up to $3.5 million a year, they will be paying tax at zero per cent.”

Golding argued that the JLP’s approach would unfairly favour wealthier Jamaicans. “I hear the Labourites are talking about adjusting the rate of income tax, but is that gonna benefit those who are very, very wealthy more than those who are less wealthy?” he asked, to loud applause from the crowd.

The PNP leader said the policy would be the start of a broader reform. “As the economy improves and the fiscal space improves, we will raise that tax threshold further and further because we want money to be in the pockets of those who are struggling right now to make ends meet,” he said.

Golding described the promise as a “sneak preview” of the party’s Manifesto Lite, which will be released Monday as a companion to the PNP’s main election manifesto launched two weeks ago.

The dueling tax promises from both major parties set the stage for a heated exchange in Tuesday’s economy debate, followed by Thursday’s highly anticipated face-off between Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Golding.

Currently, Jamaica applies a 25 per cent personal income tax on taxable income, with a higher rate of 30 per cent on earnings above $6 million. The JLP’s landmark 2016 pledge to raise the tax-free threshold to $1.5 million was considered a turning point in that election.