Public meeting to hear from tax review sub-committee
- Public meeting on Monday 18th May at 7.30pm at Les Cotils will allow islanders to hear from Tax Review Sub-Committee members
- Key recommendations include applying 10% rate to entire corporate entities (raising up to £500,000) and extending it to professional services (raising up to £2.5 million)
- Three independent international tax policy experts will participate in panel discussion moderated by former OECD director Pascal Saint-Amans
- Sub-Committee also recommends progressing Workstream 1, the previous States Assembly's tax package raising £50 million
- Audio recording of the meeting will be published on States website the following day for those unable to attend
A public meeting will be held today [Monday 18th May] to allow islanders to hear from the Tax Review Sub-Committee and question its members about their work.
The meeting, which starts at 7.30pm at Les Cotils, will see Deputies Charles Parkinson and Gavin St. Pier provide a brief overview of the Sub-Committee's work before a moderator takes over to oversee a panel discussion with three independent international tax policy experts who sat on the Sub-Committee. A question and answer session with the audience will follow.
The Tax Review Sub-Committee was formed by the Policy & Resources Committee to consider alternative options, focused largely on corporate tax. Its report, which has been submitted to Policy & Resources, contains three key recommendations.
The first is to apply the intermediate 10 per cent company rate to the entire corporate entity, which would raise up to £500,000. The second is to extend the intermediate 10 per cent company rate to apply to certain registered prescribed businesses, such as accountants, legal firms and other professional services, raising up to £2.5 million. The third recommendation is to progress Workstream 1, the GST package agreed by the previous States Assembly, which raises £50 million.
The Sub-Committee's report, which outlines all options considered, can be found at www.gov.gg/taxreviewsubcommittee.
Deputy Charles Parkinson, Chair of the Tax Review Sub-Committee, said: "I'd encourage anyone interested in this important work to attend and hear directly from the three distinguished international tax policy experts who worked with us on the Sub-Committee. They are indisputable experts in this field and we have benefitted enormously from their input. For anyone unable to attend, all speakers will be mic'd and we will be recording the audio from the evening. This will be published, almost like a podcast, on the States website as soon as possible the next day."
Nick Mann
Deputy Parkinson added: "In addition to the three independent experts who sat on the Sub-Committee, members of the public will hear from Pascal Saint-Amans, former Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD. He is widely regarded as the architect of the OECD's '2-Pillar' initiative, as well as its work on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. Mr Saint-Amans will set out his views on the future direction of international tax policy."
The Sub-Committee comprised Deputies Parkinson and St. Pier, along with Deputy Haley Camp who attended as an observer on behalf of Economic Development, local tax expert Tony Mancini as an advisor, and three independent experts.
Bill Dodwell was Head of Tax Policy at Deloitte between 2005 and 2018 following a career in taxation. He was President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation in 2016/17 and chaired its Technical Committee for six years. Since leaving Deloitte, Mr Dodwell was Tax Director at the Office for Tax Simplification, reporting to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, from 2019 until its closure in 2023. He is currently a non-executive member of the board of HMRC, chair of the Closing the Tax Gap sub-committee and Editor in Chief of Tax Adviser magazine.
Professor Peter Harris is a lawyer whose primary academic interest is in international, corporate and comparative tax law, its history and development. He is Professor of Tax Law at the University of Cambridge, where he has held the position since 2014, and is also Director of the Centre for Tax Law. Professor Harris has taught courses at 16 universities across nine countries and is the author of five international tax books. He holds key editorial posts in the tax field. Since 1998 he has acted as Technical Assistance Advisor for the IMF, undertaking over 80 missions, and has assisted numerous countries in drafting reformed tax legislation and developing tax treaty policy. Professor Harris has also acted as a consultant to the DESA of the UN and contributed two chapters to the UN Handbook on Protecting the Tax Base of Developing Countries.
Mike Williams was Director, Business and International Tax at HM Treasury from 2010, having been Director, International Tax from 2004 to 2007 and Director, Personal Tax and Welfare Reform from 2007 to 2010. He was responsible for all business taxes, including company tax and value added tax, and for property and capital gains taxes. Mr Williams was the UK delegate to the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs from 2004 to 2024, of which he was deputy chair for four years. He chaired the ad hoc group that created the multilateral instrument to change countries' bilateral tax treaties to reflect the outcomes of the OECD-G20 BEPS project.
Pascal Saint-Amans will moderate the public meeting. He is the founder and chief executive of Saint-Amans Global Advisory and a non-resident fellow at Bruegel, an independent think tank that specialises in economics, which will be contributing to the EU Tax Observatory work on tax competitiveness. Mr Saint-Amans started his career in the tax policy department of the French Ministry of Finance before joining the OECD, where he founded the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. He became director of the Centre for Tax Policy in Administration in 2012, leaving that post in October 2022.
Q&A
Q: When and where is the public meeting taking place?
A: The meeting is on Monday 18th May starting at 7.30pm at Les Cotils.
Q: What are the key tax recommendations from the Sub-Committee?
A: The Sub-Committee recommends applying the 10% company rate to entire corporate entities (raising up to £500,000), extending the 10% rate to professional services like accountants and legal firms (raising up to £2.5 million), and progressing Workstream 1 which raises £50 million.
Q: Who will be speaking at the meeting?
A: Deputies Parkinson and St. Pier will provide an overview, followed by a panel discussion with three independent international tax experts: Bill Dodwell, Professor Peter Harris and Mike Williams. Pascal Saint-Amans, former OECD director, will moderate and share his views on international tax policy.
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