Tax error corrected

GOVERNMENT has corrected a major error in the proposed new “consolidation tax” announced in the August 13 Budget by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler that is set to take effect from Sunday.
As part of a package of measures to arrest Government’s declining revenues and reduce the increasing fiscal deficit, Sinckler had announced a temporary consolidation tax on gross income of people earning $50 000 and over, covering a 19-month period and estimated to produce revenues of approximately $42.1 million.
Its application was set out as follows: $50 000 to $75 000 (0.5 per cent); $75 001 to $100 000 (1.0 per cent); $100 000 to $200 000 (2.5 per cent); and over $200 000 (3.5 per cent).
But in a full page newspaper advertisement yesterday, styled a “Notice to Employers”, Government’s main tax agency, the Inland Revenue Department, without explanation, adjusted the rate of tax for two categories: $100 001 to $200 000 and $200 001 and over, from the 2.5 and 3.5 per cent, respectively, set out in the Budget. (AB)