President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has reaffirmed his commitment to raising the income tax threshold to $200,000 before the end of his current term.
“The new base now is a new threshold, and we said that before the end of this term, that new base will be $200,000 upon which our workers would stand, $200,000 tax-free,” the president said during a ceremony to commemorate Enmore Martyrs Day on Tuesday.
The pledge would further extend the steady climb in the threshold since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) returned to office in 2020.
The figure stood at $65,000 when the administration took office. It has since been lifted in successive budgets to $75,000 in 2022, $85,000 in 2023, $100,000 in 2024, $130,000 in 2025 and $140,000 in this year’s budget.
Each increase has taken thousands of earners out of the income tax net altogether, with the latest adjustment removing about 5,000 workers and adding more than $2 billion in disposable income.
“It is the People’s Progressive Party that has successfully increased the base upon which every worker in this country stands,” the president said.
“Five years ago, the struggle was for a higher threshold. We delivered. The struggle was for higher salaries. We delivered. The struggle was for a better pension. We delivered,” the head of state added.
He said the government aimed to keep lifting workers rather than settle at any single figure.
“Our level for the workers is not a hundred thousand. Our level is to move them from one status to the next status, so that their children can enjoy a different level upon which they start their base.”