Review priorities of how taxes are spent in the future
IT SEEMS that there is a plan to slowly bring the ‘lockdown’ to an end. When the dust has settled, I fear that Guernsey’s financial position could be somewhat less healthy than imagined, and future tax revenues certainly not guaranteed.
Whilst a lot of us have been at home in isolation, or doing their best to work from home, I’m sure that certain things won’t have gone unnoticed. Like, for example, the large sector of our community that are looked after by the taxpayer. This sector has not seen any change to their lifestyle or income during lockdown.
So, while a lot of hard-working, industrious individuals who find themselves suddenly in need of help, after paying taxes and social security for all of their working lives, only to find that the help that they are going to get is very limited, is there now going to be a wake-up call to the ‘government’?
Let’s face it, in Guernsey, sitting at home and being looked after by the state is, in many cases, a lifestyle choice.
Most of the modern benefits system came about after the catastrophic events of the First World War. I think that Covid-19 can be considered a catastrophic event, certainly financially, and I think it should bring about a long overdue rethink of the whole liberal attitude that has crept in over the last 40 years.
I am sure that there will be enormous pressure to raise taxes in Guernsey to pay for this mess; this is the easy option. But I think it would be a lot more prudent to instead rewrite the book on how taxes are spent, with a view to making Guernsey function without increasing taxes, by lowering the tax burden brought about by those wishing to live off handouts.
Huge savings could be made by getting rid of the overwhelming bureaucracy and all the jobs in the civil service engaged in that.
This could negate the need to raise taxes and genuinely turn Guernsey into a low tax jurisdiction that is open and welcoming to wealthy non-residents.
If Guernsey could achieve this whilst the rest of the modern world will be reeling from the fallout of Covid-19, this would place us in a very strong position.
After all, the only resource that Guernsey is going to be able to pull on if the tax revenue is heading south is that it is a low tax jurisdiction.
I pray that our leaders grasp this opportunity to review the priorities of the way the very hard-earned taxes are spent in the future and take radical decisions that will have a real positive impact on the future of the island.
STEVE SMITH
Address withheld.