Book Industry Association of Jamaica

In addition the Press provided operational and funding support to the Book Industry Association of Jamaica in hosting the judges’ meeting for the tenth BIAJ Biennial Book Award Ceremony, providing logistical support in contacting publishers for the event, paying for ads to publicize the event, and purchasing tickets for the biennial fundraiser and award ceremony.

Management continued to work actively within the Book Industry Association of Jamaica to analyse the Government of Jamaica’s decision to apply GCT to non-educational printed material (books), arguing that a tax on literacy was counterproductive to national development and that the decision to tax non-educational printed material imposed undue administrative hardships on small publishers and bookstores. The BIAJ was successful in May in having the 16.5% tax on non-educational material rolled back. This was the third time this decade that the BIAJ successfully lobbied to roll back the GCT on books.