Letter to the Editor of the Jersey Evening Post


The Chinese government won't swallow this twaddle 


John Heys

27th June 2011

Just mention Jersey as a tax haven and see what reaction you get from Jersey Finance chief executive Geoff Cook.  Oh no, Jersey is a well regulated finance centre and definitely not a tax haven, God forbid!

So what has he been telling the Chinese?  Talking to top-level Chinese lawyers and private client specialists (whatever that means) so that non-Jersey residents can hold cash deposits or investments without incurring any liability to Jersey income tax.  What a well regulated centre it must be (Jersey Evening Post 17th June).

He then explained to the no doubt open mouthed Chinese that the Island offered round-the-clock multi-currency banking and provided leading expertise in estate and succession planning and that - now get this bit - tax neutrality underpinned Jersey's proposition preventing liability for unnecessary layers of taxation.

Does this statement mean that I could pop along to the Tax Office and ask if my tax can be classed as unnecessary?  I have an idea what they would say.

He also pointed out our constitutional position to entice the wealthy professionals to use Jersey's financial services industry.  Why?  What would be the point if we are not a tax avoidance/evasion Island?  How would Chinese investors gain?  And would they avoid paying tax in their own country?

Oh boy, I can see how China would love that.  So just who has he been flannelling?  Us or now the Chinese?  We know it is a load of twaddle - the Chinese communist government know too and will not take kindly to money being ferreted away in a tiny island somewhere in the English Channel so that some of their wealthy residents can avoid paying their fair share of Chinese tax.