Time to talk the public's language
DEPUTY Peter Roffey has a way with words. If you’ve just read him on the preceding page, there’s a chance, though slim, we accept, that you may be now wavering in opposition to the Tax Review proposals.
He certainly demonstrates his claim that as a career politician, and a senior and well-served one at that, he jumped at the chance to get involved in the ‘landmark’ project.
If Deputy Roffey is feeling persuasive when the Tax Review group meets its public over the next couple of weeks, though, starting tonight on Facebook, he and his colleagues may wish to focus attention on two points.
He may be satisfied that today’s proposals are a ‘well thought-out package’. But when we know that the £50m. or so it intends to raise are just a small part of the looming shortfall, who gives the ‘fair’ package any chance of significant longevity?
And secondly, he argues that savings alone won’t cut it. Some of the ideas raised so far, he labels as ‘pathetic’, and certainly the deputies’ campaign group have come up with some pretty weak ideas for savings.
The deputy says he ‘really cares about key public services’. So do islanders, in the main. But how key is key?
And again, if the public believe the rhetoric, their concerns are focused on the future. How many more ‘key’ public services will be released by extra cash available, and at what cost?