Monty Waterman, left, Mark Wallbridge and Dean Rive, right, at the White Rock Cafe, St Peter Port, are amused by claims made by Unite, Britain’s biggest union, that tax offshore centres such as Guernsey are to blame for the current credit crunch. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0696364)
FORMER union members laughed off claims from Britain’s biggest union that places such as Guernsey are responsible for the credit crunch.
Unite has called for offshore finance centres to be closed down and said the culprits of the credit crunch had deprived the UK Exchequer of billions of pounds and damaged the economy by allowing people to avoid paying their fair share.
Retrieving this money could have funded the UK Government’s fiscal stimulus package, it was claimed.
‘A commitment to make 2009 the year Labour gets tough on the tax havens would be met with delight by hard-working families,’ said joint general secretary Derek Simpson.
Local Unite secretary Ron Le Cras did not wish to comment.
Former Transport and General Workers Union member Monty Waterman said Unite’s claims were rubbish.
‘They are just looking for a scapegoat. They don’t like to blame themselves in the UK. We have been a tax haven for I don’t know how long and it’s been OK and now they blame us for this new mess – it’s unbelievable,’ he said.
Mr Waterman said he thought it would have been better not to have gone into Europe in the first place.
Mechanic Mark Wallbridge said the problem had arisen through the behaviour of greedy bankers and the very nature of modern banking, not because of tax havens.
‘The problem is fictional money and borrowing and lending IOUs – then when people want their money it turns out the banks can’t give it as there is no real money to give. It’s crazy.’
Another former union member, auctioneer Dean Rive, said the banks and companies needed to reflect on their own behaviour before attacking others.
‘They need to take a good look at themselves – the way they have been working without restraint,’ he said.
Former Transport and General Workers’ Union district officer for Guernsey John Guilbert could not say if he agreed with the claims because he had not seen the information om which Unite was basing its comments.
‘But we don’t think Guernsey is a tax haven in the first place. It’s obviously a tax saver, perhaps it’s a haven for some,’ he said.
‘Banks have rules and as long as they apply them fairly I think Guernsey is as up-front and honest as we could expect.’
n Pressure has been growing on offshore financial centres since American President-elect Barack Obama identified them as an area to be closely examined in the near future.
Article posted on 5th January, 2009 - 12.00pm
2 Article Comments
It would be interesting to know exactly how many of the UK goverment officials placed their own wealth in taxhavens as well as Guernsey.
People with money don’t like to give it away. Nobody likes paying tax. All that can avoid it will. They hide behind our and others data protection act.
What makes Guernsey so special for tax dodgers is the act above and also the fact that there is no Freedom of Information which shields them even further from detection.
Our finance industry is slipping away then. Good.
Report abuse
Paul
From my reading of the Guernsey Press my understanding is that Guernsey has a reciprocal agreement with UK to share tax information and this appears to include tax information they have no right to on Guernsey residents.
The Data Protection Act basically says that you must have a good reason to collect information on individuals and must take reasonable care to keep that information secure. Nothing to do with tax.
Freedom of Information gives citizens the right to access government and company records for information pertinent to themselves or of public interest provided it does not contain confidential material. Again nothing to do with tax.
The finance houses can advise clients of LEGAL ways to avoid tax. This is done in the UK as well, so no cause for complaint there, other than that most of us don’t make enough to be able to take advantage of tax avoidance schemes.
Funny money gets into Guernsey using fake ID. The finance houses are supposed to verify their clients are bona fide but I doubt they can 100% guarantee all their clients are who they say they are.
Report abuse