Prime Minister Andrew Holness has given the clearest indication an increase of the $1.5 million income tax threshold is coming, announcing that a version 2.0 is to be implemented by his administration.
"We will deliver the next version of 1.5," Holness told a gathering of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters in Clarks Town, Trelawny, last night as he sought to ramp up support ahead of the February 26 local government polls.
The promise comes just ahead of the tabling of the national budget on Thursday which will trigger the budget debate.
It is widely anticipated that an announcement of a movement in the threshold could be made during the budget debate.
Last year May, Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke had indicated that the government was amenable to a suggestion by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) for an increase in the income tax threshold.
CAPRI proposed a new threshold of $2.2 million, which would see workers only paying tax on income greater than that figure
Clarke said the government was "in line with the thinking" shared by the research institute.
Speaking last night in Trelawny, Holness noted that the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) has also been promising an increase in the threshold, but warned Jamaicans that "they are hypocrites and tricksters".
"You cannot listen to people who have never done it before," Holness argued, noting that the JLP administration already has experience figuring out how to finance a significant raise of the threshold.
"I know that all Jamaicans know that it is the Jamaica Labour Party that will deliver 1.5 (2.0)," Holness stated.
"It is the Jamaica Labour Party that understands how to increase your wages substantially and how to relieve you of taxes, not the PNP. Anytime yuh hear the PNP talk 'bout tax, run weh from dem or run dem weh from yuh," Holness continued.
The $1.5 million income tax threshold was a 2016 campaign promise by the JLP, which was implemented after the party won the general election.