The Truth is Out There – Along With an Increase in GST

I’m not at all shocked at the announcement by the Auditor General Chris Swinson that the government will have to increase GST up to 12% with a "pessimistic" estimate of a £171m deficit by 2014 if it does not stop its extravagant spending programs.

I have been calling for the States of Jersey to reign in its excessive spending since standing for election in 2005 and It’s unfortunate that it takes a global melt down of our financial markets to draw attention to its out of control spending and misappropriation of public funds.

The number of civil servants that we now employ is out of control. The UK faces the same problem with its government and are finally facing up to the fact that the civil servant gravy train will have to pull into station sooner rather than later.

I think it’s important to point out that I’m not against the public service, far from it in fact. We need a high quality public service which includes not only manual workers, but high quality management as well. To maintain Jersey to the high standards that we have come to expect and provide the services that we all enjoy.

But here’s the problem…

I have been trying to work out why any States Member would want to employ someone like Bill Ogley who is the Islands Chief Executive to the Council of Ministers and the island’s senior civil servant. Or Steven Izzat (Waterfront) who between them earn close to £250k a year each, when the States Member employing them only earns £42K?

Why would you want to create positions like these and pay these massive wages when they are 5 times what you earn as a States member? Either they are being paid grossly inflated wages or the States Member is not getting paid enough. Or both and vice versa.

I would like to see if these chief officers could earn anywhere near this sort of money in the private sector and turn a profit to achieve it. Instead of the taxpayer and consumer paying in increased taxes.

Coming back to GST….

It’s because we have politicians like Senator Ozouf, Senator Le Main, and Senator Le Sueur who see nothing wrong in employing these people on these grossly inflated wages and paying them with public money that we are in the financial mess we are in today.

I have absolutely no doubt that we are going to see GST increased.

The only way to stop this cycle of tax and spend….. spend then tax, is to vote these politicians out at the next election.

This announcement by the Auditor General is just a warning shot across our bows to start preparing the brain washing that will come inevitably come from the States PR unit in how it’s the only way to balance the books. We heard all of this when they brought in GST and it made no difference to our deficits other than allowing the States Members to keep spending money that haven’t got! And keep taxing us more to pay for everything.

But wait, because that’s not the whole story…

Jersey's Council of Ministers have agreed to £50m in spending cuts over the next three years. Now if you believe that you will believe anything! What they are not telling you is that they intend to do what they did the last time they saved £20m…and that is to spend it on something else!

The money saved will actually go into a contingency fund and to be used to fund growth in essential services. So where is the real savings of £50m coming from then? The fact is that no real term savings of money in the bank will occur.

Same old spin…same people spinning it.

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