Deputy John Le Fondre is suggesting that the waste charges will only be applied to companies who do not have a tax liability in the Island.
Next week, the States will discuss Ministers financial proposals through until 2019, which are designed to invest in essential services, while also reducing expenditure, and ultimately balancing the books.
One proposal is to introduce commercial waste charges for all companies as the ‘service’ is currently free, but Deputy Le Fondre says local firms already pay taxes. As such, they should not have to effectively pay twice for the same service.
He said: “I just cannot see how charging Jersey tax-paying companies twice for waste is fair.
“One of the fundamental principles around our taxation system is not being charged twice. Income tax is what I am charged to pay for services provided by the Government. There is no service more basic than the disposal of waste – whether it is liquid or solid.
“The arguments that other jurisdictions charge for this seem purely to justify raising more money off us, and even worse, to charge us twice for the provision of that very basic service.
“If we have got to that level of debate, then we need to have some very full and serious discussions about the ability of the Council of Ministers to control its costs and spending habits.
“However, I do agree that if someone is not contributing to the use of those services, then some form of collection mechanism should be found to charge those entities that use such a service ‘for free.’ The mechanism I am suggesting, in principle, seeks to achieve just that.”
The new waste charges could come in as early as 2018 and generate around £11million a year by 2019.
