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“The frequency distribution of the number of people that earn high amounts is not what people think in the White Rock café,” according to P&R’s Treasury Lead, who was countering claims that the answer to Guernsey’s fiscal woes is to simply tax high earners more.
Deputy Mark Helyar was speaking alongside the rest of the Policy and Resources Committee at the IoD’s October Breakfast event.
“There’s been quite a lot of debate amongst politicians, many of them... are too afraid to come out and say they’d like to put up higher rates of income tax for high earners,” he said.
“The problem is it doesn’t raise any money – the top 6% already pay 25% of all income tax, you don’t need to lose many of those residents to lose a lot of tax... one of those high earners is the equivalent of 33 average earners.”
Glen Tonks is the Chair of the Guernsey branch of the Institute of Directors, he said:
“The IoD position is that the Bailiwick is living beyond its means and the path is not sustainable with headwinds building.
“Our recent IoD member survey shows that public finances/tax reform, skills/education and growth/investment in infrastructure are important issues for our local directors and business leaders.
“The IoD urges Deputies to work together, to collaborate and align behind solutions and take action to the very urgent challenges the Bailiwick needs to overcome.”
Debate on the Funding and Investment Plan begins this week.
You can watch the full event below:
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