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Finance Minister Audley Shaw has moved swiftly to dispel assertions by the Parliamentary Opposition that it is pressing ahead with plans to establish an international financial centre instead of providing increased budgetary allocation for welfare services.
Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller was Wednesday critical of the $107 million set aside in the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial centre.
During the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee Mrs. Simpson-Miller questioned whether it was still a good idea to set up the centre in the wake of international concerns about tax havens.
Mrs. Simpson-Miller said it would have been better if the money went to projects which help the poor.
"I really feel that for this year with the challenges of the country and our responsibility, people can scream and say what they want to say, I don't want, as a parliamentarian, when my maker comes to judge me...‘I was hungry and you fed me not," said Mrs. Simpson Miller.
However, Mr. Shaw stated that the financial centre will not be used as a tax haven.
The Finance Minister said he will give details of the plans for the centre when he makes his Budget Presentation.
"What we are promoting in downtown Kingston is not an offshore banking centre or a tax haven it is an international financial centre. We will explain at that time that the character and nature of an international financial centre is starkly different from a calculated and deliberate attempt to set up a tax haven," said Mr. Shaw.
http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/17187/26/
Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller was Wednesday critical of the $107 million set aside in the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial centre.
During the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee Mrs. Simpson-Miller questioned whether it was still a good idea to set up the centre in the wake of international concerns about tax havens.
Mrs. Simpson-Miller said it would have been better if the money went to projects which help the poor.
"I really feel that for this year with the challenges of the country and our responsibility, people can scream and say what they want to say, I don't want, as a parliamentarian, when my maker comes to judge me...‘I was hungry and you fed me not," said Mrs. Simpson Miller.
However, Mr. Shaw stated that the financial centre will not be used as a tax haven.
The Finance Minister said he will give details of the plans for the centre when he makes his Budget Presentation.
"What we are promoting in downtown Kingston is not an offshore banking centre or a tax haven it is an international financial centre. We will explain at that time that the character and nature of an international financial centre is starkly different from a calculated and deliberate attempt to set up a tax haven," said Mr. Shaw.
http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/17187/26/
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