Bankrupt? Most places are jealous of Guernsey
Friday 15th July 2011, 2:30PM BST.
GUERNSEY’S financial position is strong, sustainable and the envy of most, the Chief Minister said yesterday.
Deputy Lyndon Trott was responding to claims by anti-tax-avoidance campaigner Richard Murphy, who said that the Crown Dependencies were in danger of going bankrupt.
The Tax Research UK director claimed Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man could not survive as low tax jurisdictions, with deficits and waning revenues.
But Deputy Trott (pictured) and Treasury minister Charles Parkinson strongly disputed that yesterday.
Deputy Trott has just returned from Washington where he was able to stop a modified bill mistakenly listing the island as an ‘offshore secrecy jurisdiction’.
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GUERNSEY’S financial position is strong, sustainable and the envy of most. So was until recently a UK newspaper. As they say the bigger you are the harder you fall. Bare this in mind Mr Trott when making such claims. With the present climate around the world no one is truly secure.
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Firestorm
Quite! A Guern with intelligence at last! Please see my post under ‘Game is over for Crown Dependencies’.
Mr Trott
Exactly what is Guernsey if it isn’t ‘an offshore secrecy jurisdiction’?
How often are States meetings not open to the public?
How often do the States refuse to commment on issues. Specifically, for instance, on the recent issues [aired on these threads] of the poor man refused leave to come back to his own island to die; and on the current thread ‘Silence over fishing deal not right?’
Never mind that the British Government has embargoed Guernsey’s WW2 records for 100 years until 2045 [Guern doubters please verify this with HMG].
I can’t really equate the above examples with that of an open non secret jurisdiction.
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…thank goodness we have the ever smiling L.T. to sort out those Americans and their silly mistakes….we just don’t appreciate how lucky we are to have such a congressman in our midst!
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A much better headline than Thursdays disgraceful front page ‘Game is over for Crown Dependencies’banner
I wonder how many business people and holidaymakers took Thursday’s Press home with them without having the benefit of the ‘other side’ of the story
It was about as fair and balanced as Fox News
I should think Murphy and his local disciple Lord Arnald Haw Haw will have that front page framed and mounted in the office by now
Mr Editor,if you want to be accepted as the voice of the island please oversee your sub editors more closely
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coyote
“Quite! A Guern with intelligence at last”!
Pathetic.
“How often do the States refuse to commment on issues. Specifically, for instance, on the recent issues [aired on these threads] of the poor man refused leave to come back to his own island to die”;
Pathetic.
But from reading many of your posts you do seem to love having a dig at a Guern any chance you get.
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I do hope that this jack of some trades and master of none has his colleagues squirming with embarassment over his latest ego fest.
The Iod, various other bodies and, us thinking people must be approaching rigor mortis with shock.
It is high time this cardboard cut out was cut off.
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Guernsey is a tax haven for the tax dodgers, simple as that! I’m now off to kill myself off Les Tielles cliff.
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The envy of most sayeth Lyndon Trott, not jealous as the GEP would have us believe. There is a great deal of difference.
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Coyote / Firestorm
Comparing Guernsey to the News of the World is a very intelligent way of going about things.
Maybe it would be better to compare us against other jurisdictions? Or would the fact that we come out on top of virtually every other place in the world detract from your argument?
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Fed up finance workr
If you could hold back on that for a week you could sell tickets to help cover your funeral expenses
Just remember that the tax man will be wanting 20% of the take
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Fed up finance worker
I don’t know you but I like you!
Will your pro-active move be copied by the remaining 65,999 Guerns?
Maybe not. Intelligent honest Guerns like yourself are rare.
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Phil
I’ve re-read my post 100 times and I cannot find a reference to the News of the World. Perhaps you shopuld have gone to Specsavers.
Then you say that Guernsey would come out virtually on top of any other jurisdiction in the world which would detract from my argument.
It is precisely the sort of self satisfied smug closed mind approach which you seem keen to display that will bring Guernsey down.
Recently a prominent islander admitted that it is wealthy economies, like China, with a truly hard work ethic for fees/wages far less than those paid by Guernsey, which are the Island’s greatest threat.
So get over yourself and try opening your eyes to the effects of global financial problems and changes. But then it takes courage, imagination and intelligence to do this and I realise that you might have some difficulty in doing so.
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werewolf
The problem is that there is nowhere near 65,999 other Guerns left in the island
The island is gradually being taken over and spoilt by outsiders trying to impose their will on us
Bloody hell I’m starting to sound like Islander!
Where is Islander by the way? I hope he is on holiday (not in the UK of course) and not ill
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Still nobody able to answer the question then.
What happens if other countries decide to stop letting money out of there countries to be put in Guernsey/Jersey/IOM banks to avoid tax in there home country.
What happens then ?
Come on all you geniuses or should that be genii.
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Nobody
There would probably be riots in those Democracies
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Coyote
If you look at my post regarding the News of the World, you’ll see that it was addressed to you and Firestorm. Then if you look at the very first post on this thread, the one above your first post, you’ll clearly see Firestorm’s reference to the News of the World. In fact you congratulated him on, which I assume meant you agreed with it.
Perhaps it isn’t me that needs to go to Specsavers after all……………..
As for your other comments, I shall dismiss them as the rants of a deluded individual who has obviously been influenced by the likes of Murphy, and maybe even Arnald, Lawrence, Fast Robert etc, all of whom scatter wild comments as wide as possible then fail to make any convincing arguments to back them up. You fit in well.
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Ray, Thanks for the reply. But I do not imagine wealthy people would take to the streets. In fact I am probably sure the average person in most countries would be only to happy for there govt to stop wealthy people moving money to Guernsey/Jersey/IOM.
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even after all the shouting is over, Nobody is right. No-one has answered the pertinent questions asked. So where are all the Guernsey geniuses/genii who can tell us lesser ignorant mortals exactly what Guernsey would do if the unthinkable happened and the finance industry collapsed. As a matter of interest WHY do Guerns NEVER answer any questions theyr are asked?
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coyote
There was me thinking you had a problem with Guerns but now i have just realised your a comedian. Great jokes though and keep em comeing :).
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Let’s face it Guys, the finance industry will always be favoured over tourism, growing etc because it’s a “fat cats” paradise world and those who poo poo the posts that speak the truth about what finance does to small islands like Guernsey are probably the ones working/benefiting in finance and living off the backs of hard working genuine people who have to bow down to the wants and needs of greedy money making multi million companies. (Why else do u think they want to extend Guernsey Airports runway….. It’s all for the Finance industry)!
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Coyote
The answer to what would happen if Guernsey’s finance industry collapsed is a very disturbing and severe one. Thousands of job losses and no alternative employment, instant negative equity, bankruptcies, emigration, depression, suicides, a ghost town of an island with no prospects whatsoever in the current era.
Doesn’t bear thinking about.
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GM – unduly pessimistic.
The correct , on message way to view anything that may be construed as negative is to spin it positive.
Hence, Thousands of people able to enjoy early retirement, affordable house prices, a forgiveness of debt, long, long vacations abroad, a first-class mental health sector and Guernsey becomes the first jurisdiction outside Switzerland to have an operational branch of “Dignity”.
Not actually that bad a prospect, if viewed positively, eh?
It worries me that anyone prefers the alternative.
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