ONE of the strongest messages coming from Treasury and Resources in its Budget report for 2009 is the need to generate more money – in other words, take more taxes off islanders. In part, that is because of the state of the global economy and the effects that will have on the island’s post-zero-10 growth strategy.

It is also, however, because the States is failing to keep to its side of the bargain: containing the size of the public sector. Indeed, from this year’s report it rather looks like previous assurances that government would keep its own growth down to RPI or below were hollow.

Over the last seven years to 2009, public sector expenditure has risen relentlessly and it was only in 2007 that the increase briefly halted before starting again.

Perhaps worse than that, the percentage of islanders’ money that was spent on government salaries was 47.4% of all revenue raised. Next year, that is expected to rise to 50%. In other words, an area where the States should have complete control is also becoming more costly.

The picture is compounded by the Treasury minister’s concerns that departments have been funding their spending by using what are called unspent balances – savings from previous years.

No commercial operation could act like that. Yet States departments have effectively been hoarding taxpayers’ money that they did not need (and so should have returned) and now that they are being asked to live within their means are failing to do so.

The real worry is that having insulated themselves from the reality of having to economise – unlike the rest of islanders – those same departments will expect to be bailed out by the taxpayer.

That fear is reinforced by the Budget report itself. While it acknowledges that stage one of the zero-10 strategy was underpinned by public sector restraint (arguably not achieved), it goes on to say that what happens next depends on the success of the first phase.

That’s fair enough but, ‘…with particular emphasis placed on the performance of the economy and the level of public sector income’.

In other words, any pretence of restraint has been dropped and we must all pay the price.