Threat of Sports Commission cuts due to indecision over tax strategy

The commission, like all services, was set up to answer a need in our community.

I work for a children’s charity and in 2022 I approached the Sports Commission, asking for sporting opportunities for disabled teenagers.

They invited me to an extremely positive meeting and within days a whole series of inclusive sport taster sessions had been arranged during the school summer holiday. This even though they were running their extensive programme of holiday sports for a large number of children at the same time.

During the tax debate in February this year (as a member of Women in Public Life, I received a texted precis of the debate in real time), it was made very clear that Guernsey will have to raise more taxes.

Some committees produced and presented well thought out, workable tax strategies, although none without compromise or that would be universally popular. They represented hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of work. It was also made clear from the start that a delay in starting this process would severely impact services which are needed and used by the ill, the vulnerable and people on low wages.

The role of our elected representatives was to decide which strategy would be the best fit for Guernsey.

The cut in States grants to service providers, such as the Sports Commission, is directly traceable to our government’s inability to make that decision.

Delaying the increase of taxes has achieved nothing for the island. The distress it will cause for people in poor health or without many resources, will far outweigh the distress that tax increases would have caused everyone else.

Susie Gallienne

1 Kensington Place

La Mazotte

Vale

GY3 5JL