Taxing consumption in Jamaica

Kelly Dane Edmiston () and Richard M. Bird ()

No 2006-01, Community Affairs Research Working Paper from Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Abstract: In Jamaica, as in most countries, consumption taxes in the form of a value-added tax called the General Consumption Tax (GCT) and several excise taxes collectively known as the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) are critically important revenue sources, accounting for 37.4 percent of total revenues in fiscal year 2003/04 (27.7 percent for GCT alone) and an estimated 11.2 percent of GDP (8.3 percent for GCT alone). This paper first describes in some detail the present structure and administration of the GCT and SCT and then evaluates the performance of these taxes from several angles -- as revenue generators, with respect to their distributional effects and their relation to the shadow economic, their administrative aspect, and in international perspective. It concludes by setting out a number of recommendations for reform.

Keywords: Jamaica; Value-added tax (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc, nep-pbe and nep-pub
Date: 2006
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