JLP plans to raise customs duty threshold

The Governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has announced a mouthwatering increase in the customs duty threshold from US$50 to US$100.

Dr Nigel Clarke, the country's finance minister, made the announcement at yesterday's staging of his party's 80th annual conference at the National Arena in St Andrew.

Clarke said that in addition to increasing the customs duty threshold, the government will lift the duty-free allowance for Jamaicans entering the island from US$500 to US$1,000, effective April 2024.

When implemented, it will become cheaper for Jamaicans to import goods from overseas. Many importers, particularly persons who are purchasing personal items from overseas, have been clamouring for the raising of the custom duty threshold and the duty-free allowance.

"We believe in economic freedom," Clarke said, to rousing applause from Labourites inside the arena.

Yesterday's announcement comes as political parties continue to woo voters' support in the upcoming local government and parliamentary elections. Clarke last week announced a temporary reduction in fares for rides on the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company.

In September, President of the People's National Party Mark Golding said his party would move the income tax threshold to $3 million, up from $1.5 million.

The promise to raise the income tax threshold proved to be a winning strategy for the JLP in the 2016 general election. The party campaigned on a pledge to move the threshold from $592,800 to $1.5 million, thus leaving more disposable income in the pockets of PAYE earners.

The JLP will be seeking its third consecutive term in office when the next general election is called. Those polls are due in 2025. Local government elections are due by next February.