Tax Administration Jamaica working to resolve licence plate shortage
Published:Wednesday | July 15, 2015 | 12:00 AM
Motorists visiting tax offices across the island to obtain a licence plate will currently find that they may not be able to secure one.
This is as Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) is facing a severe shortage of plates.
Checks made by The Gleaner at three tax offices in the Corporate Area confirmed complaints from members of the public about the unavailability of licence plates.
Officers at the Cross Roads, Constant Spring and Harbour Street tax offices told The Gleaner that they were completely out of licence plates.
TAJ Director of Communication Meris Haughton confirmed that the agency has been experiencing challenges with supply of plates.
All locations will be out today
"I can confirm that by tomorrow all our locations will be out," Haughton told The Gleaner yesterday. "What we had done when we recognised that we were running short is that we pulled from some of our smaller offices to accommodate the larger offices."
She added: "We are experiencing a delay in the supply which is coming from overseas and that is part of the challenge we are having."
Haughton also indicated that while TAJ normally makes allowances for increases in demand, demand has been unusually high.
She moved to give assurances that the TAJ is working to address the shortage.
"We do stockpile. We normally have supplies lasting about a month, but the raw materials coming from overseas have been delayed, so we are in discussions with the supplier to have that resolved in as quick a time as possible," she said.
"We are hoping to resolve the issue in a week, but I cannot confirm that it will be a week so we are looking at interim measures that will accommodate some of the supplies to relieve the shortage."