On page 32 of today’s Guernsey Press, tax expert and commentator Graham Parrott questions the wisdom of holding off raising additional public finances until States expenditure is under control and his arguments very much speak for themselves.

Indeed, the presentation earlier this week by the States economist to the Chamber of Commerce also set out the dynamics that almost inevitably increase cost and have seen public sector spending rise by nearly a factor of five over the last 100 years.

He also made the point that with the island having had more money than it needed for as long as anyone can remember – until recently – it would be odd if services hadn’t increased and become gold-plated.

To pick up Mr Parrott’s contention, it is clear that the States will need to spend more money in future because people’s expectation of the services that should be provided goes up and, critically, an increasingly growing percentage of the population is growing older and living longer.

The row over the extra-care housing is a case in point.

However, the difficulty most islanders will have if more of their money is removed from them by government is having any confidence that it will be spent efficiently.

After all, it was only in February 2009 that Tribal Consulting, now acquired by Capita Business Services Ltd, determined that a financially profligate culture was able to flourish within the public sector. Has that now been eliminated?

The evidence suggests not. The accounts for 2009 showed that expenditure rose by 7% in real terms despite members having voted for a freeze.

The headline position for 2010 was significantly better but payroll costs including pension contributions remain out of control and some of the departments bolstered their budgets by charging for services that in reality they receive taxpayers’ money to provide.

The underlying point, however, is that for the autonomous departments, financial restraint is voluntary and it is only public opinion that kept last year’s expenditure in some form of check.

The States will have to raise more revenue – but now is not the time.