Jamaica’s ministry assures no change on bauxite levy regime

<p>Jamaica&rsquo;s auditor general Pamela Monroe Ellis gets confirmation from the Ministry of Finance that there is no change in the taxation regime for the bauxite sector for fiscal year 2017-2018. The confirmation came after she found a change in the Fiscal Policy Paper for 2017-18.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/bauxite.jpg" alt="news" width="517" height="226" /></p> <p>Monroe said, "Based on the ministry's confirmation that there was no change in the taxation regime, the ministry should make the necessary correction to the Fiscal Policy Paper."</p> <p>The Fiscal Policy Paper for 2017-18 indicated that there is no payment of the bauxite levy based on the new agreement with the owners of Alpart and Noranda.</p> <p>"These agreements reflect a change in taxation regime for the bauxite sector wherein the companies move towards the payment of profit tax or profit sharing and away from the payment of a levy," it said.</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p>The Government explained that the provisional intake from the bauxite levy for the fiscal year to December 2016 stands at $1.83 billion relative to the budgeted $1.98 billion, a shortfall of $150 million.</p> <p>The shortfall occurred because of the downturn in crude bauxite production and decline in demand in the United States. &nbsp;Another reason for the shortfall was due to postponing of operation restart at Alpart bauxite processing plant.</p>