The Op­po­si­tion Ja­maica Labour Par­ty is in­sist­ing that the Gov­ern­ment re­move eggs from the list of ba­sic food items, which have been at­tract­ing Gen­er­al Con­sump­tion Tax (GCT) since June 1. "We im­plore the Gov­ern­ment, in the in­ter­est of the con­tin­ued de­vel­op­ment of the agri­cul­tur­al sec­tor and the at­tain­ment of food se­cu­ri­ty, to re­move the GCT on eggs, forth­with," the par­ty said in a state­ment is­sued at a brief­ing on Wednes­day.

Op­po­si­tion spokesman on Agri­cul­ture JC Hutchin­son not­ed that while the Gov­ern­ment had giv­en an un­der­tak­ing to re­move GCT from "hatch­ing eggs", it was yet to de­liv­er on that com­mit­ment and has not rolled back the GCT on "ta­ble eggs". Hutchin­son had raised the is­sue in his sec­toral de­bate pre­sen­ta­tion in Gor­don House on June 20, when he ap­pealed to Agri­cul­ture Min­is­ter Roger Clarke to re­move the GCT added to plant­i­ng ma­te­ri­als, broil­er and lay­er birds and eggs.

Ob­serv­er