Opposition Leader Mark Golding on Tuesday responded to Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ announcement that he will be giving up his massive salary increase under the controversial compensation review that has seen members of the political directorate receive huge pay hikes, by more than 200 per cent in some instances.

Following public outcry, Holness announced at a press conference Tuesday evening that he will forego his salary increase that would have seen his pay balloon to $28.6 million in April 2024.

However, Golding has dismissed Holness’ move as merely an attempt “to try and take pressure off himself”, questioning whether the prime minister even has the authority to exclude his office from the pay hike.

“He was feeling the pressure and belatedly tried to take pressure off himself. I don’t know how he can give an instruction that he is not to be paid when the Cabinet has already made a determination as to what the salary levels are, including for the prime minister,” Golding said, adding “I am not sure where his authority to do that lies.”

Last Friday, Opposition Leader Mark Golding announced that he would be giving up 80 per cent of his 240 per cent salary increase that would have seen his pay jump to more than $25 million by next April, to charitable causes.

“I have no power to stop them putting that money in my salary but I have indicated from last week that I am not comfortable with it without these issues being resolved, and I intend to do what I have announced,” Golding said.

In the meantime, Golding repeated his call for the appointment of an independent panel to review the salaries of ministers and members of parliament.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding has stated that Jamaica’s income tax threshold should be increased by about 40 per cent to match the present realities of the country’s working-class population.

Addressing a press conference at the People’s National Party (PNP) headquarters on Wednesday, Golding noted that the current income tax threshold of $1.5 million has not been adjusted since 2016.

“We would have to look at an inflation adjustment. In other words, we would have to look at the increase in the cost of living over the period, and adjust it by a similar percentage. That would be the normal way in which one would deal with these matters, and it would be at least 40 per cent,” said Golding.

“We have had over 40 per cent inflation. It needs to be significantly increased to give the working class a break,” Golding added. “There is no point having a threshold which is out of whack with where the cost of living has moved to, and that means that people are earning less than they ought to be earning.”

The Opposition Leader made the declaration amid public outcry over the increases for members of the political directorate. Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced earlier this week that he would be declining his own salary increase, which would have seen his pay rise from $9.16 million to $28.5 million by April 1, 2024.

PNP General Secretary Dayton Campbell declared that the only acceptable action for Holness to take is to retract the increases for all the members of the political directorate, including members of the Opposition.

-Christopher Thomas