These sums just don’t add up
MOST islanders won’t be too surprised with the new package of revenue-raising measures put forward by the States yesterday.
They’ve gone some way to make sure that the poor won’t be too badly affected – maybe not affected at all – by a goods and services tax. But GST’s still there.
The work that has been done this time around may turn a few political heads, at least, though it throws into sharp focus the poverty of the original report and proposals.
But some will look hard and be concerned that the figures in this report just don’t add up.
Why do the proposals seek to raise between £50-60m., when in just the third paragraph of the report, Policy & Resources is warning of a funding gap approaching £100m. over the next decade or more.
The speculation is that global and local corporate taxes, motoring and environmental taxes and more people living in the island might change the game. The genuine fear will be that a profligate government will simply have seduced us all with a relatively low starting point for GST and will start to ramp it up.
A revamp of the island’s social security and income tax systems is almost certainly overdue and should be welcomed. But on day one of the tax review, part two, Policy & Resources must realise it still has some way to go to win over a mistrusting public.