There was extensive coverage in the Isle of Man yesterday on my comments on the new VAT deal for the island, made here on Tuesday. Both Manx Radio and Isle of Man Today covered the story, reproducing much of my blog.
Both seemed to think that my comment that this campaign was now over might mean I will pay less attention to the Isle of Man in future. Far from it. There are still very good reasons for paying attention to it. It's tax system is still illegal and subject to EU sanction. It is still a tax haven, of course. It is still offering pernicious secrecy. It is still offering only limited automatic information exchange. It is quite likely to go bust, which makes it a matter of particular interest.
And the ordinary people of the Isle of Man still need a government that represents their interest and not those of the finance industry.
So I promise you - you've not heard the last of things yet.
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“Note to the Isle of Man – I won’t be going away”
And neither will the PSG “be going away”.
We will vigorously continue our campaign against the Isle of Man government until some semblance of law and order is established on the island.
As sure as night follows day the PSG will not rest on this matter.
Add this to Richard’s promise.
….and neither will those second class citizens of the Isle of Man who have been permanently resident here for at least 10 years and many of them far longer, i.e. those who do not receive the Manx Pension Supplement.
PSG please continue with your campaign as your members have been treated abominably and the machinations of the various so called “authorities” have been appalling.
However when we still have not got a Freedom of Information Act here despite the promises made by our Chief Minister Tony Brown it is going to be a hard fight. Our sympathies are with you.
I assume you mean people that have already reached pensionable age when first becoming resident in the IOM? – I always understood that being resident for ten years or more,and then reaching retirement age,would qualify for the Manx pension plus the supplement. If the pension was paid from the UK,terms may be different.
“To qualify for the payment of the Supplement, the following conditions need to be satisfied.
You must
be ordinarily resident in the Isle of Man
have attained the age of 45
be entitled or treated as entitled to a qualifying benefit from the Department
have paid relevant contributions in the Isle of Man for at least 10 years…..”
Thank you for your reply Brian. Please see http://www.isleofmanpensionersassociation.com for a full in depth analysis. The Pension Supplement has created first and second class old age pensioners despite many living here many years and some before the Supplement was brought in and so could not qualify. The original Government sponsored Chislett Report recommended 10 years residency as the sole criteria for qualifying. If you move to the UK you will be treated equally with UK citizens.
The point is we have a divided society and when Chief Minister Brown on 26th January, 2009, said in reply to a question at a public meeting of the Positive Action Group in Douglas about the Manx Pension Supplement, “If you have not put it, you do not get out”. Surely equal rules should apply? Basically do you want a fair and equitable society where all people are treated equally or not? See Gavin MacFadyen co producer of World in Action for 10 years http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=vmAF2gYKGfY
I note that you made no response to my comment about a lack of a Freedom of Information Act here despite promises made by Chief Minister Tony Brown. Surely the lack of such an Act is not conducive to an open and fair society? In a recent Douglas By Election one candidate had unnamed financial sponsors who still have not been identified because of the lack of the relevant legislation.
We have seen outrage in the IOM media regarding the renegotiation of the Common Purse Agreement (VAT) and Richard Murphy to put it mildly has been vilified and his appearance at a Positive Action group meeting was called off after inane comments on what is in fact a Government funded radio site.
See http://www.isleofmanpensionersassociation.com/Students.htm where we benefit greatly by only being charged the middle fee for Under Graduate Tuition.
See http://www.isleofmanpensionersassociation.com/comservices.htm where the amount we pay for Defence, Inter Departmental Advice, Foreign policy (Services) and any other services is a joke when viewed as to what we contribute. Both these links are a little dated but the basics still apply.
See Manx Independent, July, 15th, 2011, on the CinemaNX film finances where their chairman Steve Christian said “the industry has resulted in a total direct benefit to the Exchequer (presumably IOM) of up to £250m”. How, where? Also see Liberal Vannin website on the issue http://www.liberalvannin.org/05_-_Film_Industry.pdf and http://issuu.com/tonyiom/docs/www.liberalvannin.org?viewMode=presentation&mode=embed NOTE THERE HAVE ALSO BEEN FOLLOW UPS NOT YET ON THEIR WEBSITE.
Incidentally we are able to use the “VAT changes boost luxury registrations” and one aviation and yacht specialist here in one week has “a double registration thought to be worth in excess of £100 million”. Examiner, July 5th, 2011.
Wow,a lot to read there! Ah,so it`s also the fact that on introduction, the Supplement was not made retrospective to others than those to who it would be currently applicable you mean? Did you also mean that if you moved back to the UK,you lost the supplement? Sorry to appear obtuse! All I can add,is that a relative resident here for 9 years and 11 months was refused the Supplement.
I agree there should be an IOM FOI Act,but as you know from the UK,they can be very selective! Governments still can conceal matters deemed “not in the public interest” or for reasons of “security”-probably their own!!
Regarding the other matters,I beg to reserve comment-on time grounds!
Mr Murphy,
In another post you were considerate enough to respond to my comment and in your reply you said that you had brough to the attention of the Manx Government (some time ago) some of the issues that were obviously wrong with the VAT agreement and they failed to do anything about it.
We agreed that, fundamentally, the MHKs should be brought to task about the issue and one of the ways to do this was by voting appropriately in the upcoming election. Would you be in a position to point me – using simple terms – to the information you ‘supplied’ because it is my intention to try and put into bullet point style questions to ask my current MHK and and new candidates.
If you are able to help please could you e-mail it to the e-mail address that I gave when I posted this comment.
Thank you in advance.
I regret I have not got time to do that
But if you read through this search right toi the beginning you should find ample http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/?s=isle+of+man+vat+subsidy&searchsubmit=
Thank you, I will see what pertinent questions I can form using the information in your link.