Wrong Time For Sales Tax, Warns Jersey Official

by Anthony Lewis, Jersey Evening Post

28 May 2004

This story is reproduced by kind permission of the Jersey Evening Post at http://www.thisisjersey.com

The Constable of St Helier was telling business leaders on Wednesday that the idea of a sales tax should be dropped at this stage.

In a lunchtime speech to the Chamber of Commerce, Simon Crowcroft claimed consumer and retail confidence was being adversely affected by talk of a goods and services tax.

The Chamber has already come out in support of the tax despite the likely impact on prices, but Mr Crowcroft told them:

"I do not support the proposed sales tax. It's too soon to be discussing it and there is in any case too little detail about how it would work."

"Indirect taxation will have to rise and new environmental taxes will appear in due course, but I simply do not think we should be talking about putting up costs to the public unless and until the States have demonstrated their willingness and ability to cut costs and increase income."

The town's retailers, he said, "have enough of a problem with the effects of high rents, wage inflation, harbour dues, freight costs and red tape".

Mr Crowcroft claimed that the States could learn from the way that he has reduced costs at the Town Hall. He has cut the number of managerial posts by 12 and reduced the parish's running costs after successive rates rebellions left the Town Hall staring at a multi-million-pound deficit.

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