A Deputy has challenged Policy and Resources to release all the numbers used to come up with its latest tax reform proposals.
Deputy Rob Curgenven also rejected P&R’s claim that it couldn’t release the analysis because it contained people’s confidential information – insisting the public deserved “transparency”.
He said: “The committee says its Tax Policy Letter is founded on ‘rigorous, tested economic modelling’ – if so, it should now publish its workings.
“In fact, I would say that it should have published them alongside the policy letter.”
Express has already highlighted several unanswered questions about the policy letter, after our Freedom of Information Act request was incompletely answered.
Complex modelling
P&R published a 122-page policy letter at the start of June, outlining the new tax proposals.
Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, P&R President, previously told Express the modelling was “both large and complex and access to the raw data is controlled under legislation governing the collection of data for the census and therefore cannot be widely shared at this level of detail”.
Commenting on Facebook, P&R Vice-President Deputy Yvonne Burford said: “What we are not prepared to issue is the detailed analysis that by their very nature contain confidential details of individuals et cetera.”
However, Deputy Curgenven is now challenging this claim, saying he did not accept that the modelling “cannot be disclosed in an aggregated and anonymised form”.
He told Express: “The claim that the household GST revenue modelling is too sensitive to disclose does not explain why virtually every other assumption, calculation and piece of supporting analysis has also been withheld.
“A blanket refusal to publish the evidence is difficult to reconcile with transparent and accountable government.”
If it was asking islanders to support “one of the biggest changes to our tax system in a generation”, P&R should “be prepared to show the evidence on which its decisions were made”, he added.
Deputy Curgenven said P&R had failed to provide “direct answers” to explain why none of the analysis could be provided or why some deputies were not trusted to see the modelling when others – along with civil servants – were.
Backbench rebellion
Deputy Curgenven is one of a growing number of backbenchers to challenge P&R about its tax proposals.
He was one of several deputies who emailed P&R questioning its assumptions, with Deputy David Goy calling the numbers “wildly optimistic”.
Meanwhile two deputies resigned from States’ committees within 24 hours, this week, with Deputy Haley Camp heavily criticising the States’ willingness to control spending and the “autocratic” leadership of some committees.
Deputy Garry Collins has not yet explained why he is leaving Employment and Social Security but he has previously criticised the States lack of appetite over making savings
However, Deputy Burford dismissed the backbenchers as unwilling to listen to the benefits of GST.
“There comes a point where people have set themselves against a particular policy and no matter how many questions we answer they will always have another one because at no point do they ever want to get to a situation where they actually realise that this isn’t bad.”
