PSC pushes salary threshold hike, business incentives in 2026 budget

As budget talks intensify, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) has outlined a number of priorities which it would like to see reflected in the 2026 national budget.

Speaking on the latest edition of Ignite News Insights, its Chairman, Captain Gerry Gouveia Jr., shared that the PSC is in the process of compiling submissions based on consolidated input from its membership and supplemented data.

He said this will mainly be based on salary tax thresholds, corporation tax and incentives, and promoting private sector engagement and social impact initiatives through tax incentives.

Gouveia Jr. said he is grateful that the government has responded positively to submissions over the years, since a lot of incentives which came to fruition were based on suggestions from the PSC.

“It could be things such as raising the employee tax threshold, asking for more benefits and allowances to be non-taxable. So we can maximise the net or take home salaries for employees. That’s one of the ones that we’re pushing forward. We’re also pushing forward things like incentives for businesses to– for example, donate to charity organisations. They’re many different global standards that you can use, and we’re pushing for some of these,” he explained.

The PSC Chairman said it will remain focused on attracting foreign direct investment, including regional and global investment, and looking at ways in which these can work in collaboration with the local private sector.

“If you want goodwill, companies will donate, but if you want to make it sustainable you have to make sure that it makes economic sense. That is usually done through tax incentives and tax deductions. So, we’re going to be pushing these forward to promote private sector engagements into these programmes. It’ll range from that to corporation tax, talking about how can we start to promote more companies investing and reinvesting in Guyana,” Gouveia Jr. said.

One way to do this, he highlighted, is by looking at the tax systems for businesses and ensuring that the money remains and is reinvested in Guyana.