Jersey business folk want the poor to pay more

What a surprise. In a recent survey:

"Almost 1,200 respondents completed the survey between August 16-23, and the results will be sent to the government prior to the end of the consultation period on August 30. The key findings were as follows:

Over 60% of respondents do not think that the proposed cuts or savings go far enough;
Only 12.1% of respondents believed that the split between spending cuts and personal tax increases should be 50:50, as currently proposed by the Council of Ministers. Almost 75% thought the split should instead be at least 70:30 in favour of cuts; and,

Of the proposed personal tax increases, the taxes most cited and preferred by respondents were quite equally divided, between GST (28%), social security (23%) and income tax (29%). 15% indicated that none of the personal tax increase proposals suggested were preferred."

Not content with fleecing ordinary taxpayers of other countries, who have to pay the taxes that their wealthy citizens won't (because they've used Jersey to cut their tax bills,) practitioners of these injustices are now asking the ordinary people of Jersey to accept savage cuts, while they are protected from tax cuts.

Pat Lucas, a vocal islander, has written to us about this. As she says:

"Jersey wants to carry on with business as usual as regards the tax avoidance industry. This, in my view is the fundamental problem. The EU ordered the Island to provide a level playing field for businesses trading in Jersey. Instead of that Jersey brought in Zero/ten which means that the finance industry pays 10% tax and all other companies pay no tax at all. 0% Corporation tax. This resulted in a great big black hole in the Jersey government tax take per year so it blamed the EU for the tax deficit that resulted. to try to fill the tax shortfall a 3% Goods and Services tax was introduced. That might not sound like much but we already pay higher than UK prices for most of our purchases. Property and rents are sky high. Lots of our young people leave the Island as they say there's no future for them here.

I say all this because if our government wants to raise more money why cut jobs and services? Why put up taxes? Why not tax National and International Companies the services provided by our island. That would bring in the money required without crippling those already paying tax."

Well said. TJN knows, from deep experience, that this is, as the satirical magazine aptly describes it, the Septic Isle. Lucas wrote in a recent letter to the Jersey Evening Post:

When I look at our Jersey Government I see that, apart from a couple of exceptions, the "Council of Ministers" at the top of the States Assembly and those with power, wealth and influence who work closely with them to run this Island stand shoulder to shoulder with one another like a solid wall of steel. They rarely listen to anything of importance ordinary residents of Jersey have to say. They make a show of asking our opinion on certain issues but most of us know that we count for little or nothing in their scheme of things. They see themselves as the Extremely Important Ruling Party. Anyone who dares to contradict this “absolute truth” runs the serious risk of being ridiculed, rubbished or discredited.

Most people outside Jersey do not know the extent to which the political apparatus of this state has been captured by the finance industry. Just as anecdote, there are no political parties in Jersey, and no general elections where Jersey folk can boot out an old government to replace it with a new one -- and that ain't the half of it. Democracy isn't working: it has been replaced by the Rule of the Financiers. We will be revealing more in the coming months . . .