Last week I was described by Geoff Cook of Jersey Finance as ‘ just a domestic chartered accountant’. He repeated the suggestion on BBC Radio Jersey last evening (1.23 in). Philip Ozouf, the finance minister of Jersey has also now made the claim in the States of Jersey, the local parliament.
It’s an interesting suggestion, worth exploring just a little since it is obviously the line Jersey has decided to use to dismiss the contributions to debate that I am making in Jersey, and elsewhere.
They are right to some limited degree, of course. I am indeed a UK chartered accountant. I am, to be precise a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. I also hold a practicing certificate from that Institute and was for many years a registered auditor. I was also a training practitioner.
And it is true I do practice in the UK — and have done for what is now half a lifetime. But I really think that if that’s the best Geoff can come up with he’s missing the point, just a little bit.
I’ve also written an academic work — ‘Tax Havens — the True Story of Globalisation’, published by Cornell University press, the fifth biggest academic publisher in the world. I guess the experience I got in Jersey — where I seem to be the only person who’s ever called all the shots on the future of its tax system correctly - helped, but Geoff would like to ignore that.
And he also ignores the fact that I have been an employee of the World Bank (in 2009) and that over the last few years I have advised clients on taxation and contractual issues in many countries including Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Sweden, Denmark, the USA, the UK and, of course, Jersey as well as addressing conferences in locations as far apart as Santiago, Chile and Bergen, Norway, via a great many locations in between.
And that amongst the things I’ve done is create the concept of country-by-country reporting, now being considered by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, European Union and International Accounting Standards Board.
I won’t go on. I don’t think I need to do so. I’m not in the game of blowing trumpets, and don’t want to be so. But equally, I do think that first of all dealing with the facts and not the man is important and second that if you’re going to deal with the man you might at least try to get some facts right. Whatever else the facts say — and I’m well aware that Geoff and others won’t be impressed by any of the above — they do suggest that I have at the very least some international experience as well as something to say on tax havens.
Which means that, as ever Geoff, you’ve got it wrong.
Now why don't you tell us the truth on zero / ten instead?
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Hello Richard, you did right to reply, but, really, if that is the best that Mr Cook can come up with he must be very short of ammunition indeed!Jo
@Joseph Angela
The risk of replying to such things is that the rolls love toi play the man – not the issue – and a statement such as this seems to delight them.
But it’s also important to make clear to people like Geoff Cook that such lowball tactics put him in poor company
Geoff Cook really isn’t doing himself any favours. By spinning the situation this way he’s basically admitting that Jersey’s issues are so large and so obvious that even a domestic chartered accountant has no difficulty in spotting and describing them.
They have just announced in the States that we are keeping 0-10 tax this morning. So much for your knowledge of it all.
@Jamie
I always make clear that keeping zero 10 was an option for Jersey. You can get rid of distribution provisions. You will suffer a significant loss of tax revenue as a result. The government will fail all the sooner as a consequence.
Or alternatively, you can take on a constitutional crisis with the UK instead.
Those are options are available. They are hardly desirable, but it may be that those are the courses of action your politicians have opted for. After all, they may be more frightened of the finance industry than they are of government failure, or UK retribution
And either way, the massive uncertainty that will be created will be extraordinarily harmful to your finance industry, after all, why would somebody wish to base their business in Jersey when its tax system does not look legal and its financial future looks dubious?
No it isn’t Richard, I work in the heart of the industry and new business is coming in again. You have said a lot lately and today I really question your knowledge of it all. I would say its more wishful thinking of the finance industry going down and thats always been your objective but the fact is, it isn’t.
@Jamie
It is odd how often I hear comments such as this. there is always this argument with new businesses coming in “now” with implication that it wasn’t a while ago, when I was told exactly the same thing.
Candidly, I simply don’t believe it
New business started coming back in again in the latter part of 2010. I cannot comment about every finance firm.