Senior figures within Jersey's Finance Industry have outlined their broad support for the jurisdiction's current business tax regime and urged caution about the repercussions of making significant changes to it.
Further to the recent States of Jersey consultation paper on Business Tax, Jersey Finance surveyed its member firms to gain their views on the Government's business tax regime proposals.
In total, the heads of 49 businesses completed the survey between 16th and 23rd August 2010 and the full results will be sent to Government before the end of their consultation period. The key findings were as follows:
· 69% of the respondents indicated that there should be no change to the "0/10" taxation regime or that it should remain but with alterations to it
· 39% of respondents believed that moving from the "0/10" taxation regime would have a negative effect on their company
· 65% of respondents indicated that a change to the "0/10" taxation regime would have an adverse effect on Jersey's status as an International Finance Centre
Heather Bestwick, Technical Director of Jersey Finance, commented:
"These results provide a vital snap-shot of the views of Jersey's finance industry and re-enforce the need to think carefully before any alternatives to "0/10" are considered, to ensure that any move does not effect Jersey's finance industry negatively."
- 24 September 2010