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Throughout my (almost) decade in the media I’ve reported on a lot, but very rarely have I been asked my opinion, but with every interview I’ve ever given I’ve always sought to punch up, never down. To provide voices for those who wouldn’t and couldn’t have a platform.
So now, for the first time I take to my soap box, and I’d like to take you through my view of the latest budget proposals from the States.
The sad truth is that although I truly believe Deputies mean it when they say “these proposals will protect the worst off, and most vulnerable in our society”, I don’t think they truly understand how bad things have gotten for many, many working households in Guernsey.
It might sound like hyperbole to state the wolf whistle of “politicians are disconnected from society” because by and large, Guernsey manages to avoid some of that pomposity of politics further afield, where ego’s grow large due to celebrity status, but rest assure, there is a disconnect here.
It’s born from the sheer numbers involved. 32.7 million pounds here, 40 million pounds there. Being surrounded by those kinds of numbers are going to warp your viewings of pounds and pennies. When millions are on the menu, why would you stop for the pound shop starters.
When you’re surrounded by handsomely paid, top level civil servants who make enough for the full three course meal, and possibly the restaurant itself, why would your mind wander to those outside getting chippy?
So when they say the average family will be about £22 worse off a week under the new income tax proposals, I understood why they didn’t feel that was a large deal. Because why would it be?
Pictured: Islanders could be having to rebalance their monthly bills should the States approve P&R's proposed budget for 2025.
Fate would have it that the week before the budget, I had the true delight of meeting Kat and Sarah. A couple of very normal everyday mum’s. They care for their families, they work their day jobs and they do the shop and they clean the clothes and they make the lunches and…
The list goes on. That’s the life of the everyday working mum. Thing is this dynamic duo have held supermarkets accountable, resulting in cheaper shops for the everyday islander, and they’ve done it out of their own time and money.
They run SuperSavvySavers, a Facebook group thousands strong, and they’ve told me stories of local families with £40 a week to do the full food shops. Breakfast, Lunches and Dinners for four or more, with barely the cash to scrape the sides.
These requests are frequent, and it's a more common story than you think here in Guernsey. So when I heard families will be £22 worse off, my mind went to those already struggling, and how they would fare with over half of that food budget disappearing into the States' growing vat of sadness that are the finances facing all of us here.
Some will say that’s why the income tax raises are the most sensible option, because it puts a little bit of pressure on all of us. It balances out that weight of debt across us all, but not all of us can bare that pressure, and piling too much on those who have too little can have major consequences.
Work is being done to improve our standard of living. Those of us with boots firmly on mother earth.
I like to see there’s a clear effort to help tackle the housing crisis. Just trying to encourage it a little without upsetting the boat completely…but simply it’s not going far enough.
I like to see that there’s, what I see as, a loosely veiled rental price cap contained within the “Rent-a-Room” schemes. If you have one room you can rent, you can’t get the tax relief if you charge more than £833 per calendar month, if you have two rooms, you still can’t rake in more than that total combined.
This will help reduce sofa surfing. If rooms popped up for £415 a month, that will help incentivise movement in the market, and more importantly, and it could go a long way to tackle homelessness. I just have a fear that those that see renters as “lesser” will take advantage, because they will, instead of those who could truly benefit from having someone else in and around the house.
The sad reality is Guernsey is impacted from further afield, and these issues are rife across western society at the moment. Wages have stagnated, everything is more expensive, and that means everything. Inflation is driving things to such a cost for many it could become unbearable, especially when salaries have lagged behind the dreaded RPIX (currently 5.3%...I’ve read that number a lot this week).
I tend to waffle, and I’ve probably already ruffled a few too many feathers for someone still on probation at a commercial news company. So I will end this briefly.
Many of Guernsey’s islanders will struggle beyond belief under the new tax proposals, it’s not up to all of us to solve these problems, that’s what our elected officials and civil servants are paid to do. They’re paid by each and every one of us to make sure Guernsey weathers the tides and the people can prosper.
If two working mothers can change the lives of islanders for the better, with numbers in the thousands, then why can’t the States? If our third sector organisations weren’t so heavily involved, Guernsey would be a torrid place to live for many thousands more…so why isn’t anything being done to truly help? Why isn’t there greater action on finding the funds wherever they may be, without impacting those already struggling?
Pictured: The islands Deputies will be asked to approve of Policy and Resources plans next month (November).
Let those that reap the bounty of Guernsey more than the majority shoulder the burden. They’ve benefited from the island and its working population. It’s time to change how little people can pay in tax in a lump sum if they can afford it, and just not worry about paying their fair 20% like the rest of us.
I’m not talking about those making 100,000k a year, so you can stop typing angry responses, or even those up to the early hundreds of thousands. I’m talking about the millions, upon millions of pounds that some people here take home, and hide away in accounts, never to be used…or actually benefit the economy.
Everyday people are the ones that keep the economy going, not the ultra-wealthy, so keep more money in normal people's pockets, and flowing around the island from shop to garage, and follow it up by actually taxing those who can not just hoard it, but actually afford it.
To quote Kat and Sarah “Why should it be left to two mothers? What's everyone else doing about it?".
