Wednesday 15 January 2014

Channel TV interview on my candidacy in the St Helier No. 2 by-election


Channel TV have done a report on young people in politics in Jersey, featuring an interview with myself on my candidacy in the St Helier No. 2 by-election.

Thank you to everyone who has sent nice messages of support since I declared.

Onwards to the 5th of March!


11 comments:

  1. 'Banks want to pay 100s% of salary as bonuses? Cool. How about a windfall tax on all of it? See how quickly they change their minds.'

    Any idea of the biggest employer, and payer of rates, in your representative parish if you are elected ?

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    1. A bank?

      If there are people in Jersey who work in banks (or any other industry for that matter) and are getting £1m wages plus £2m in bonuses then I think that 20% income tax is far too lenient and I would argue for people earning that amount to have a higher rate of income tax.

      That is very far from a reckless threat to the parish finances of St Helier.

      In fact, I am an ally to the rate payers of St Helier (including banks) because I want the States of Jersey to pay parish rate, which will give the Constable a choice of either lowering the rates bill for those struggling to get by, or use the extra cash for infrastructure investment or some "nice to haves" to improve quality of life.

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  2. The States are attempting to attract ultra higher earners such as hedge fund managers to the island because it is seen as beneficial with regards to tax take versus footprint. How would your policy of increasing taxation on these individuals fit with this government policy ?

    You are advocating that the taxpayers of the island subsidise the rate payers of St Helier, as it is ultimately taxpayers who finance the States. Given that the vast majority of taxation is paid by the residents and businesses of St Helier, this vastly shifts the burden of taxation from individuals to corporations, thus increasing the cost of doing business in St Helier. How would this policy fit with the State's desire to increase employment through encouraging business to grow ?



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    1. I'm not proposing a French style 75% tax rate. Maybe an extra 5 or 10 %. That will still be much lower than the UK and there is plenty else in Jersey to attract people here.

      I am not arguing that taxpayers subsidise St Helier ratepayers. St Helier ratepayers are already subsidising the rest of the island. As the islands capital, it is naturally the centre of most States buildings (Morier House, CLM House etc) which house facilities which all islanders benefit from, but only St Helier ratepayers are contributing to their rubbish collection etc.

      The second part of your argument relies on the assumption that businesses will be asked to pay more. It is just that - an assumption. I don't share it. But I think lots of people would be quite happy for corporations to pay more tax, given that the tax burden over the past few decades has reversed from them to individuals.

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  3. Daren O'tool is the campaign manager for Paul Huelin. Isn't O'tool the bloke who was campaign manager for Gino Rissoli?

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    1. I have no idea, but Daren told me that he was campaign manager for Ted Vibert once (can't remember in which election). Ted is backing my campaign.

      I have never really heard of Paul, apart from that he is a centenier, so I have nothing to say about his politics at this stage.

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    2. Anonymous, I agree completely with what you said in your comment, but I hope you understand that I don't want to publish it in case it reflects on Paul Huelin, who may well hold the opposite views to his campaign manager. I think this campaign is going to be quite dirty because of certain people's involvement, but I want to keep my hands clean of as much as possible of it.

      One thing is safe to say though, I suspect Julie Hanning and Sue Young won't be joining any candidate on the campaign trail!

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  4. With a centenier who works at a law firm in the running you'll need plenty of support to stand a chance.Do you think you have much support of people of your age group looking for change or are even interested in island politics.?Best of luck to you.

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    1. Thanks Anonymous. From what I've been hearing so far it seems like a lot of young people are glad someone in their age bracket it standing and I am getting a lot of people coming up to me to say they want to vote for me. Not just young people though, but lots of middle aged people and pensioners have said on the doorstep that they think we need "some young bloody to shake things up a bit."

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  5. Sam, who else is standing for this position ?

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    1. At the moment only centenier Paul Huelin has announced he will also stand.

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