1

Michael

Great keep up the fight I buy vegetables that are grown in the UK they are cheaper than Jersey !!Crazy 5 miles to the shop in jersey or 95 miles + and still less expensive some one is profiteering O yes the Jersey way !!!

Report abuse

3

bella

all Sen Ozouf had to do was make foreign firms and companies pay local income tax the same as local firms do, that would soon fill the black hole.

For some reason he is reluctant to do this and he thinks these firms will pull out of Jersey.
Not a chance,too many rich here will ensure that.

Report abuse

5

joker

bella #3
Please explain your logic. What exactly is the connection between the rich that live here and the exempt companies?

Report abuse

7

Sanity

Bella – That is the point they do pay the same – nil. If however you wish the many thousands of foreign owned company’s who buy expensive administration services from Jersey, fees that are taxed through the underlying employees, to move and buy these services from Guernsey or IoM where they seem a little more savvy then you will really start to understand what high tax, low employment and minimal benefits entails.
Jersey people are far too greedy and seem to assume that everybody else owes them a living. Well wake up because they don’t. Jersey offers a fantastic standard of living when compared to the likes of many of our EU neighbours and offers fantastic opportunities to anybody prepared to work hard as evidenced by our many recent immigrants.
GST even at 5% on food amounts to a few quid a month and is a lot less than most countries charge – don’t believe the likes of Breckon who just wants your vote but look it up yourself and then travel a bit and find out that poverty means being cold and hungry – not not being able to afford the latest mobile telephone and a 20 a day habit.
The Finance Industry is the only thing that keeps Jersey afloat and there are many territories out there who would sell their souls to get a share.

Report abuse

9

Charles

As someone who has in the past been involved in law-drafting I will be fascinated to see how Senator Breckon defines the terms “fresh” and “healthy”.

Although I disgree with his politics I’ve always respected Senator Breckon as a sincere and conscientous politician (a rare breed you may say). I think though that on this subject he really has lost the plot.

Report abuse

11

bella

I should not have to explain any logic.
Every firm that operates in Jersey should pay tax simples.

Report abuse

13

steve

@3 Bella

Bella, he cant otherwise it would be the end of the finance industry (or a major chunk of it) virtually overnight

Foreign firms includes the thousands of offshore companies managed by trust companies for international clients, that hold their private assets (eg property, investment portfolios, all sorts of assets) either under trusts or as stand alone vehicles. If you impose a tax on foreign firms such as Boots etc, then these private companies will have to be taxed too, that was the whole EU issue of unfair tax. The minute you tax these companies the whole trust industry will dissappear to BVI/Cayman, any other offshore jurisdictioon, and the trust business forms a significant part of “finance” over here and provides the law firms, accountants, investment managers etc with a lot of their business.

Report abuse

15

gambit

the Jersey royals that we buy in the U K don’t taste like royals perhaps thats why they are cheap.

Report abuse

17

bella

i am not knocking the rich that live here on this site as long as they pay their taxes,but the companies that don’t ie De Gruchy’s pay nought while voisins pay tax and many more English companies set up here don’t have to pay any tax.
How can that be right?
Why are they making the man in the street pay GST when these UK firms should be taxed?

Report abuse

19

fred

We are governed by a bunch of morons except for one or two, who think finance is the holy grail. Take a look at the current mess the financial world is in. Privatise the profits and socialise the debt as someone quoted, not far from the truth eh. People in the street paying for the greed of a few!

Report abuse

21

texx

To bella:

The ‘some reason why’ Mr Ozouf is reluctant to tax foreign companies is very clear to everybody but you.

The sole reason why the companies are here is the 0% tax. There is nothing else in Jersey to hold them here. There was nothing in Jersey before the finance industry came and there will be nothing after they leave.

There will be nobody to sell cars to, nobody to pay ridiculous rents, nobody to eat in the overpriced restaurants, nobody to do the building for.

Deal with the fact that the large companies or rich people do not care about Jersey at all. They would all leave because they can. There is plenty of other places where they can go and where they are smart enough to create good contitions.

Report abuse

23

Luke

We are being ripped off so lets do something about it and stop talking, stop shopping at the rip off stores and start acting on where you can save. Grow your own you live in Jersey where you can grow fruit & veg all year round in any space. Dont buy bread, bake it. Little things are a start but acting big on the large companies will make a larger effect. Dont line the fat cats pocket.

Report abuse

25

Stanley

Texx #21 that is simply disingenous spin spewed out by those trying to convince us that we face armageddon if 0/10 wasn’t here.

“The sole reason why the companies are here is the 0% tax.” Tosh.

UK registered companies were here well before 0/10. Of course it makes it more attractive now but that is not to say that there were none here before.

“There is nothing else in Jersey to hold them here.” Tosh again.

A huge reason why the majority of good finance business will not leave here is because Jersey has a reputation for being a safe, well regulated jurisdiction. Something that cannot be said for some of its competitors. Eventually Nowhere in the world is going to be able to have anything but a level playing field for finace so where are these companies going to go?

There was nothing in Jersey before the finance industry came and there will be nothing after they leave.” Tosh once again.

Agriculture and tourism were the mainstay of Jersey income until sucessive goverments neglected to invest. It was a far nicer place to live then too. If there is nothing ‘after they leave’ it will be precisely because of that underinvestment and it will be completely and utterly the States fault.

I am aware that the recession has played a large role in making people struggle but it is not just that.

We have been through recessions in the past, well before 0/10, and it has never been this hard on the average citizen. It seems obvious to me that the ‘glory years’ of Jersey’s finance boom years were before GST and before 0/10 – despite recessions.

So what would happen if the finance industry upped and left tomorrow (which it won’t)?

It would be very hard for a while but thousands of people would leave with it, property prices would come down because of market forces. We wouldn’t need such a big hospital, prison, police force etc etc. The developers ruining the island would seek green fields anew to concrete over.

In other words, despite the initial few years of hardship, it would find its own level and might eventually even become a nice place to live again.

Report abuse

27

Real Truthseeker

These anti-GST politicians don’t understand the broader economic processes involved in running Treasury. Their only reason they are anti-GST is because there are votes in it for them. Every election year is the same, as they are deadly silent all other times.

These politicians truly know they would be worse ff with GST removed on food anyhow – If GST is removed, then it will have to go up on other products, so in essence they would have to subsidise others with an equivalent 8 or 9% across all other items. McDonalds food (which could be classified as ‘healthy’ will have no GST).

I don’t want to be paying that much higher rate, and I can be sure neither to the politicians.

It is a vote coutning issue only, to make it look like they are doing something, whilst those who actually ensure the success of JErsey keep plugging away in the COM.

Report abuse

29

Real Truthseeker

Pip: I will quote you on that when we get to 2014 budget.

Shall we wager a house on it?

I bet you would go running a mile if you had to put up.

Report abuse

31

Pip Clement

“I bet you would go running a mile if you had to put up.”

Sadly putting up is one of the many things that you seem incapable of doing.
Even a cursory review of the States spending will show that it is only with the application of smoke and mirrors that the States have achieved 2% savings.
Really they should have netted off the cuts against the increases elsewhere, if you do that the budget is pretty much the same as last year, so a standstill budget at best with Education and Health still to deliver most of their share. The college parents are fighting a hard action with James Reed and personally I think they will win. I can’t see him finding the cuts elsewhere so that is quite a big bit of the cuts written off there.
This year they have 3% cuts to find and next year an amazing 5% and on the performance so far I cannot see them doing it.
The economy is not going to deliver the growth that is needed to balance the budget and the States cannot make the cuts needed, so there is only one place the money can come from; increased taxes and charges!

Report abuse

33

Adrian

Pip is right this is the tip of the iceberg. No doubt those in the UK in 1973, the types like RT (clueless)would have laughed if someone had said it will be 20% less than 40 years later. They sure would have lost that wager!

Indeed the writing is on the wall. The peak has been reached it is downhill all the way now for the vast majority.

GST 10% within 15 years -20% within 40 years. This is a conservate estimate timewise. What do you reckon RT? Still 5% in 10-40 years?

Report abuse

35

joker

Froggy #4
GST is not the reason Royals are more expensive here than the Mainland but if you’re only going to think simple you would come to that conclusion. There are many factors in UK pricing even with the cost of transport and VAT. The most important is competition, the big 4 supermarkets go to great lengths to undercut each other meaning they make little if no profit or loss leading on certain items to get people into their store. They also buy in bulk (65m people in UK v 0.1m in Jersey) with huge purchasing power (that means they can afford to pay Jersey farmers a lot less than local retailers per spud). Overall cost of living is cheaper in the UK meaning overheads etc are cheaper which filters through to the customer. It isn’t as simple as just GST.

Pure Jersey #22
OK – example: You sell hay, now is this hay for bedding or for animal feed, how are you going to prove it? Another example: you bake and sell hot pies, so you have paid GST for all overheads that have gone into making the hot pies (electric, water, even accountants to audit your books) so you have to charge pseudo GST to make up the difference so defeats the object of zero rated. Another example, you buy tomato or edible flower seeds… is it food or not? It is complex, you just need to think a little.

Report abuse