Deputy Andy Sloan has been a strong critic of the complexity of P&R’s latest accounts as well as the tax policy letter.
However, the PhD economist is opposed to the idea of introducing a wealth tax, arguing it could send a dangerous message for an international finance centre.
He explains why here, exclusively in Express.
Q. Why are you so concerned about this amendment?
Because it isn’t really about a wealth tax. It’s about a change in political thinking. This is the thin end of the wedge. Guernsey is becoming more interested in taxing wealth than creating it.
Q. Isn’t it only asking for a review?
Politics rarely changes overnight. It moves by inches. Yesterday’s review becomes tomorrow’s consultation. Tomorrow’s consultation becomes the next policy letter. That’s how the centre ground shifts.
Q. You’ve said Guernsey politics has moved to the left. Why?
I’ve been saying it for years. The debate used to be about attracting investment and creating jobs. Increasingly it’s about redistribution. We seem to spend more time asking who can pay more than how we can grow the economy.
Q. What made you say that now?
At last week’s Scrutiny hearing the Chief Minister criticised people for arranging their affairs to minimise tax. I couldn’t help thinking: aren’t those exactly the people our finance industry has spent decades helping?
For an international finance centre, that’s a remarkable thing to say.
Q. Surely everyone should pay their fair share?
Absolutely.
But there’s a world of difference between enforcing the law and becoming suspicious of people who follow it. You can’t build an economy on internationally mobile capital while looking down on internationally mobile capital.
Q. Is this just about one amendment?
No. The amendment is simply a symptom. The real story is the culture that’s developing behind it.
Q. You’ve written about this before.
Yes. In an article I published recently, I argued that the most influential ideas aren’t the ones politicians quote. They’re the ones politicians absorb without even realising it. They become assumptions.
That’s what worries me.
Nobody stands up and says they’re against wealth creation. But listen to the language. Wealth increasingly sounds like a problem to solve rather than something to encourage.
Q. What’s changed?
The language.
Successful people become “the wealthy”. Entrepreneurs become “taxpayers”. Wealth becomes something to redistribute rather than something to create.
Language shapes policy.
Q. So what’s your message?
Guernsey became prosperous by attracting wealth, investment and enterprise.
We shouldn’t become the sort of place that treats success with suspicion.
Because once a finance centre starts becoming philosophically hostile to wealth creation, it’s only a matter of time before wealth starts looking elsewhere.
Deputy Andy Sloan
