In announcing the $230B budget for 2016, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan has listed a number of measures in support of government’s programme of ‘greening’ the economy and protecting the environment.

See below:

118. the removal of excise tax on motor vehicles under four years old under 1500cc. These vehicles currently attract excise tax at the rate of 30% and an effective tax rate of 118.7%. With this removal, the effective tax rate will be reduced to 68.2%.
119. the reduction of excise tax from 50% to 10% on motor vehicles under four years old, between 1500cc and under 2000cc. As a result, the effective tax rate of 152.3% will be reduced to 85%.

iii.       restriction of the importation of used and/or re-conditioned vehicles to under 8 years old from the date of manufacture to the date of importation. This restriction shall be enforced from May 1, 2016.

1. notice of intent to ban the importation of used tyres and to reduce taxes on new tyres to encourage their use. This ban will be put into effect as soon as some procedural hurdles are cleared.
2. a ban on styrofoam used in the packaging of beverage, food and food products, except styrofoam containers of a type used for packaging frozen fish and seafood.
3. amendment to the Customs Act to exempt all bio-degradable containers used in the packaging of food and beverages. It should be noted, Mr. Speaker, that solar panels and other equipment geared towards producing clean energy, are already exempted from the payment of customs duty.

vii.      begin the consultations for the re-introduction of a broad-based, non-discriminatory environmental tax.