I thought this comment on the blog worth giving greater emphasis:

I would just like to reinforce this article with an insight from a local persons point of view of what the Jersey tax avoidance industry sorry I meant finance industry has done to the Island and what pressures it is putting on the people that live here that don’t work in the finance sector. Cost of living has gone sky high, property prices and rents are totally out of control (the price for an average 3 bed semi now being around £500,000 and rents for a one bed flat getting close to the £1000.00 a month mark) so lots of families are struggling in poor and unsuitable accommodation. Myself earning approx 30k a year have no chance of being able to afford a modest small home hence me my wife and child all live in a small one bed apartment.

Lots of people say that the finance industry has brought great wealth and quality of life to Jersey but this is only the reality if you happen to work in that industry with its large salaries and bonus payouts. Outside of the finance sector the cracks are beginning to show as redundancies are on the increase and employment is harder to find especially for the Islands school leavers trying to find work. In my 37 years of living in Jersey I have watched as the Island slowly destroys it self in the pursuit of rampant greed fuelled by an out of control finance industry that has such a tight controlling grip on the future of Jersey and the very people that live here.

Then I ask myself why there are so many trusts, Shell Company’s, banks, foundations and lawyers on this tiny Island and why are they here why don’t the customers that want to use these facilities do so in there own jurisdictions? The only answer I can come up with is that they don’t want to be known to be using them as they have something to hide. This maybe a very simplistic view from somebody that knows very little about how this so called offshore finance industry works but in all reality it’s the best answer I can come up with‚Ķ..offshore Jersey = secrecy.

So true.

And repeatedly denied by those who seek to abuse Jersey for their own gain.