The government of St Vincent and the Grenadines on Thursday 22 September announced a 3-year wage increase for public servants, an increase in the Minimum wage and Tax reforms.
The package was announced by Finance Minister Camilo Gonsalves at a press conference in Kingstown.
Gonsalves said tax reforms would include a reduction in Personal and Corporate income tax.
“The tax threshold, which is the amount of money you can earn tax-free before the government taxes you, is increasing from $20,000 to $22,000 this year. Before, if you made $19,000, you didn’t have to pay income tax. When you reach $20,000, they start taxing anything over that amount. “The threshold is now $22,000,” Gonsalves said.
As it pertains to public servants the package is as follows;
In 2023, there will be a salary increase of 2.5%, in 2024 there will be an additional salary increase of 2% and in 2025 there will be an additional salary increase of 2.5% making in total seven percentage points over a three-year period.
Gonsalves said the last salary increase which was negotiated in 2018 for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 was 1%, 1.5% and 2%, a total of 4.5%.
The article will be updated shortly
Ernesto is a senior journalist with the St. Vincent Times. Having worked in the media for 16 years, he focuses on local and international issues. He has written for the New York Times and reported for the BBC during the La Soufriere eruptions of 2021.