[{"bbox": [97, 153, 1134, 230], "category": "Text", "text": "support, and specialised staff has been moved to headquarters to cover Jamaica amongst other countries. In this context, and based on its previous success, there was a risk that the Jamaican administration feels it no longer needs to collaborate with Donor Partners on PFM."}, {"bbox": [97, 244, 1134, 352], "category": "Text", "text": "The signature in 2023 of two programmes with the IMF and a strong commitment from the Current government to consolidate its fiscal and financial situation have improved the collaboration and reform impetus. Donors are collaborating with the Government on reforms linked to Sustainable finance, IDP are monitoring and supporting the implementation of the IMF reforms, a PEFA is expected in 2024, to be followed by a new PFM road map."}, {"bbox": [97, 363, 408, 390], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Domestic Revenue Mobilisation"}, {"bbox": [97, 414, 1134, 496], "category": "Text", "text": "**The policy:** The Government of Jamaica's fiscal policy priority is to pursue a reduction in the public debt to 60% of GDP by 2027/28. To do so The Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL) is targeting fiscal surpluses of 0.3% of GDP per year over four fiscal years, from 21/22 through 24/25."}, {"bbox": [97, 507, 712, 535], "category": "Text", "text": "**The means:** GoJ, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Rule (FRL):"}, {"bbox": [135, 545, 1134, 624], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ Continued to implement tax reforms aimed at simplifying the tax system, minimising the economic distortions, limiting ministerial discretion related to the granting of tax incentives and further broadening of the tax base."}, {"bbox": [135, 637, 1134, 799], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ Jamaica's 2023/24 (April to March) National Budget was formulated to ensure achievement of the overarching medium term debt/GDP target. The fiscal programme aims to support the objective of reducing the public debt and debt servicing costs, thereby creating fiscal space to facilitate growth-inducing expenditure. Accordingly, achieving the required fiscal balance and the corresponding primary balance remains a priority as these are the operational instruments being utilized to attain a public debt of no more than 60.0% of GDP by end-March 2028."}, {"bbox": [135, 809, 1134, 864], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ The reform of the domestic tax system took place simultaneously with improvements in revenue administration and resulted in an overall improvement in compliance and tax revenue collection."}, {"bbox": [210, 875, 1134, 1063], "category": "List-item", "text": "  * o During FY 2022/2023, the Government continued to work on making the tax system simpler, fairer and more efficient. Taxpayer registration increased by 3.2%. The collection of arrears, the audit coverage also improved. Tax administration enhanced its digital services to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The primary focus was on improvements to RAIS (TAJ's primary system for registered taxpayers), as well as web-based solutions to meet the needs of the general public. The expansion of taxpayer payment options saw a major upgrade which improved convenience for taxpayers."}, {"bbox": [210, 1073, 1134, 1340], "category": "List-item", "text": "  * o During FY 2023/24, Tax Administration Jamaica is prioritizing three strategic objectives spanning the Domestic Tax Administration and Executive Administration programmes. These strategic objectives are: (i) to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of the authority - TAJ will focus on 'Agile Business Transformation', to be spread across its two programmes, by pursuing digital solutions as well as exploring and applying the use of various business models that allow for increased operational efficiency; (ii) To foster a customer-centric culture - TAJ will focus on customer satisfaction, through its ongoing project of simplifying the tax system and creating tools that make tax payments, declarations, appeals, queries, and other client interactions easy, safe, efficient, and reliable; and (iii) to improve voluntary tax compliance - The Agency will focus on voluntary tax compliance, through strategic data management & analytics."}, {"bbox": [135, 1350, 1134, 1485], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ It is worth mentioning that the FY2022/23 was the fifth consecutive year in which no new tax measures were levied on the Jamaican taxpayers to finance the budget. Reducing or removing certain taxes (such as the minimum business tax and asset tax for non-financial businesses) with no offset measure in turn means that the money is actually put back into the economic circuit and will support MSMEs development, encourage informal businesses to enter the formal sector and boost the economic activity."}, {"bbox": [97, 1496, 263, 1523], "category": "Text", "text": "**The performance:**"}, {"bbox": [135, 1534, 1134, 1617], "category": "List-item", "text": "* ✓ **Fiscal and primary surpluses far exceeding FY22/23 forecasts:** The fiscal performance has been positive, with the fiscal and primary surpluses, far exceeding those programmed. The improvements relative to the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal year were substantial. This performance is"}, {"bbox": [1023, 1680, 1144, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 13 of 32"}]