A FOLLOW-up survey on living standards is to be delayed until the impact of zero-10 tax changes on the poor can be assessed. The States had agreed to follow the initial survey, carried out between 2000 and 2002, at the beginning of 2009.
It was hoped that the survey would reveal a 50% improvement in reducing relative poverty through the initiatives set out in the States’ Corporate Anti-Poverty Programme.
But there are worries around the Policy Council table about the impact that indirect tax increases, being introduced as part of the zero-10 proposals, will have.
‘The Policy Council is aware that the immediate impact of the changes to the tax strategy will mean that some individuals may have less disposable income,’ said Chief Minister Mike Torode in a report to the States to be discussed at the end of the month.
He said that if the review was done too soon, the full impact of the strategy might not be apparent and the results might be ‘unrepresentatively positive’. Now the follow-up survey is likely to take place in late 2009-10.
The States report outlines progress made with the Capp strategy in the past 12 months.
It has been slowed by cash shortages within departments, but even as the States has raised fees and charges, measures have been implemented to protect those on lower incomes.
But there is no agreed mechanism to ensure that and the issue will be reviewed this year.
Measures enshrined in the Capp will also be subsumed within the Government Business Plan under the priority areas of redistribution of wealth.
Article posted on 11th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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