PHILLIPS... any tax on Airbnb operators who earn less than US$75 per night would undermine the potential for inclusive growth In a budget presentation entitled “Empowering the people: Restoring Hope” last week Thursday, Opposition leader Dr Peter Phillips asked: What is the experience of average Jamaicans after two years of the Jamaica Labour Party Administration [...]

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica has been ranked number one on the TripAdvisor® Travelers' Choice™ awards' Best Destinations in the Caribbean list. The well-respected planning and booking website highlighted the Caribbean's best islands based on the quantity and quality of reviews and ratings for hotels, restaurants and attractions. Based on the data, which was gathered over a 12-month period, Jamaica was also named the 14th Best Destination [...]

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Audley Shaw, delivering the closing 2018/19 Budget Debate Presentation in the House of Representatives on March 21. KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Finance and the Public Service Minister, Audley Shaw, says the Government remains committed to the policy of indirect taxation intended to bring more Jamaicans into the tax net. [...]

The National Housing Trust (NHT) confirmed on Wednesday that it is now ready to roll out the Government's plan to deliver more homes to Jamaicans under private-sector partnerships. Following Tuesday's announcement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness that the NHT will be targeting private developers in a direct way, the trust's communications unit told the Financial [...]

The first transaction involving bitcoin was reported on May 22, 2010, when a programmer identified as Laszlo Hanyecz said he “successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza.” As of today, 10,000 bitcoins are worth about US$120 million. A very expensive piece of pizza. Worldwide, there are currently only 180 recognised paper currencies, but a staggering 1,500-plus [...]

Opposition spokesman on finance Mark Golding making his maiden budget presentation in that capacity in the House of Representatives last week. (Photo: Michael Gordon) In his inaugural budget speech as shadow Minister of Finance, Opposition MP Mark Golding made some important suggestions that should not be lost to the typically adversarial parliamentary process. In a [...]

Jamaica is ranked as the 56th happiest country in the world, below the island states of Japan (54) and Mauritius (55) and just above South Korea (57), according to the UN-supported report, which was released on Wednesday. That compares to a ranking of 76 for last year's report — an improvement of 20 spaces. Jamaica's [...]

I have described the recently read fiscal budget as the best I have experienced to date. My recollection is that every year the budget is to be read, businesses and individuals are always on edge as to what new tax will be introduced. Because of this annual anxiety, business and individual planning is always an [...]

In just a few short months, Sagicor Group Jamaica's new President and CEO Christopher Zacca has restructured his executive team with the overall goal of creating greater focus, driving performance and improving asset returns. He has created clearer lines of demarcation between the different business units in terms of their executive leadership, while, he argues, [...]

If you have any kind of connection to so cial media, then I guarantee you have heard of Airbnb before. This home-sharing-for-profit site began in San Francisco in 2008. It has seen an unanticipated boom in the past few years as traditional travel options have gotten more expensive. I recently had a client who came [...]