Tax changes key to Jersey's survival
Malcolm Campbell, the Jersey comptroller of income tax, says the jurisdiction's tax structure must change if the island is to survive.
Link: Jersey hints at joining EU
He said the European Union’s demands to roll back exempt company and international business company structures in line with the Code of Conduct, were absolutely critical for Jersey.
‘We already have deficits in Jersey and any reduction in the tax take will make the deficits bigger,’ he told the Jersey Evening Post. ‘We have to do something about it. We can’t stay as we are. We have to change to stay competitive or cut public expenditure.’
In a related matter, the president of the Jersey Taxation Society, John Riva, has responded to the recent Ecofin conference where other finance-dependent countries, namely Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, and Belgium, agreed to a withholding tax rather than the abolition of banking secrecy.
Riva said there were several reasons to reject the option, one of which was that it seems to be completely at odds with the original goal of exchange of information.