Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

WORKERS WHO earn less than $440,000 each year say the increase in the income-tax threshold will have a negligible effect on their pay package, as a result of the imposition of general consumption tax (GCT) on some food items.

Opening the 2009-10 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives last Thursday, Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw announced that the tax threshold would be doubled from $220,500 to $440,000 by January 1, 2010.

"Six a one, half dozen a di other," was the reaction of Karlene Francis, a PAYE employee in the cosmetology industry.

"The income tax is higher than the other taxes but when you look at it, we will still have to use that money to pay extra for certain things, so we end up not saving anything really," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Sharon Stewart, a janitor, said the increase in the income-tax threshold would not increase her spending power.

"That still not doing anything for me, cause I still have to use the little money and buy salt and the other things that they are going to put GCT on," she said.

Stewart, who pays about $900 each month for income tax, said the increase could result in her cutting back on extra hours, as this could result in payment of income tax again.

Push for better pay

The 38-year-old single mother of six children, two of whom are still in school, said the Government should, instead, push for better pay for janitors and other low-income earners.

"Right now, my six-year-old daughter not going to school because I have to pay $10,500 every three months for school fee and I just don't have it," she said.

Security guard Angela Reidsaid she was unsure if the increase in the threshold would benefit her at all.

"It's like they giving you something with one hand and then taking it back with the other," Reid told The Sunday Gleaner.

Sandra Smith, employed as a casual worker, said although the increase might have a negligible effect on her spending power, she welcomed the government's decision to increase the threshold.

"I feel a little better because 'every mickle mek a muckle'," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Names changed