Jersey's Comptroller Of Income Tax Warns Of Changes Ahead For Tax System

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

05 February 2003

Speaking at a recent Jersey Taxation Society meeting, comptroller of income tax, Malcolm Campbell warned that the jurisdiction's tax system needs to change in order to survive, according to a Jersey Evening Post report.

Citing budget deficits and an ageing population as areas of concern, Mr Campbell observed that: '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.'

According to the JEP, consultancy firm, Oxera is currently examining the driving forces behind the finance, agriculture and tourism industries in preparation for Finance and Economics' fourth consultation paper on tax and spending, due out later this year.

Quizzed at the JTS meeting over whether a self-assessment regime is a possibility for Jersey in the future, Mr Campbell was non-committal, suggesting that:

'I do not think we can have self-assessment until we simplify the system. It presupposes that people will calculate their own books. Most people in Jersey will just come trotting to us, as they usually do, and say they can't work it out.'

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