ISP Working Paper Number 04-30

The Jamaican Individual Income Tax

Sally Wallace and James Alm, December 2004

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Abstract:

Jamaica’s individual income tax is an important revenue source for the Government. In 2003-04, the PAYE portion of the tax generated $27 billion, about 22 percent of Government tax revenue and equivalent to about 6.5 percent of GDP. The self-employed pay less than $2 billion in income tax, or 7 percent of PAYE. Jamaica uses the individual income tax more intensively than does the typical Caribbean or developing country. The tax effort for the personal income tax in Jamaica is more than twice that of similarly situated countries.