Jersey Chamber Of Commerce Welcomes 'Perks Tax' Decision

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

04 September 2002

Jersey's Chamber of Commerce has announced that it welcomes the Finance and Economics Committee's decision to tax employees rather than employers on benefits in kind, but has expressed continued concern at the level of States spending.

Speaking to the Jersey Evening post, CoC vice-president, John King observed that: 'We are certainly pleased to see that the States have changed their view on who should collect this tax. In the first place they suggested that it should be the employer, but now it is going to be the recipient, which seems a better way of doing it.'

However, he added that in the view of the Chamber, the root of the jurisdiction's budgetary problems is unnecessarily high government expenditure, which the Chamber has criticised several times previously:

'It all comes back to what we have already said. If the States were to cut their spending they would not have to impose any of this additional tax. That is fundamental and must not be lost sight of,' he told the JEP, adding that:

'It's easy to raise taxes, but perhaps more difficult to cut costs. But as business people, that is what we have to do all the time. The States have to look at things the same way - they have not even started on revenue costs.'

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