From Shane Wolstenholme.
ROD Bryan’s letter (JEP, 23 July) about John Christensen’s article appears to be a character assassination by yet another person with vested interests.
He is right when he says that it doesn’t tell us anything new. Many of us have known, for some time, that we are being governed by people with self-interest at heart.
John Christensen’s article was clear, concise and to the point, without descending into the petty name-calling that has dominated the political scene, on both sides, for far too long.
Mr Bryan states that the politicians have been quite prudent in creating GST.
In the words of Mandy Rice-Davies, ‘well, he would, wouldn’t he?’
I would guess that Mr Bryan is nowhere near the minimum wage.
When he says that the wealthy immigrants pay taxes, does he include those who ‘arrange their finances’ so that their income appears as capital gains? (As far as I know, we have no capital gains tax in Jersey).
As for those wealthy individuals who actually do pay taxes in Jersey; perhaps Mr Bryan would care to take a guess at the average percentage of income they pay, and how coping with GST has affected their lives.
The fact that John Christensen is an emigrant doesn’t make him less qualified to comment on the state of affairs in Jersey.
And I certainly hope that many readers of his article will, indeed, use the next election as an opportunity to ‘cast a vote for a dramatic shift, away from a rotten status quo’.
I know that I shall.
1 Les Petites Cheminées,
Rue des Vignes,
St Peter.
