‘You are playing with fire’ - Golding suggests retro levy bill leaves loophole for legal claims, Gov’t dismisses concerns

The parliamentary Opposition’s protest that a bill giving retroactive effect to the environment protection levy from June 2007 to the present does not go far enough to protect the Consolidated Fund and public officials who imposed the tax from legal action was brushed aside on Tuesday.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the tax collected over the period was done without legal authority and urged the Government to introduce an amendment to the Environment Levy Act to validate and indemnify public officials who collected the revenues.

“I am wondering if we are adequately protecting the Consolidated Fund and the revenue and the economy of Jamaica by passing this law with retroactive effect but not specifically validating the collections that have been made over the period,” he said during a debate on the bill as parliamentarians returned from a two-month summer break.