Deputy Geoff Southern is one of Jersey's political opposition. It's a brave thing to be.

He has a fascinating letter in today's Jersey Evening Post. He says:

As a rule of thumb, wealthy residents can expect to pay 20% on their first £1m of (declared) Jersey income; 1% on the next £1m and 0.5% on the rest.

We have 135 such wealthy residents. If they paid their tax at the benchmark rate, that would generate over £33m. So how much do the wealthy actually pay? In 2002 they paid £10.7m tax in total, or around £79,000 on average. (Questions in the States, 4 November 2003). In 2006 Senator Le Sueur managed to extract the magnificent total of £8m from the 135 wealthy residents; an average of only £59,000 each. (Questions, 15 July 2008).

Amazing, isn't it? The £33 million would have almost by itself have avoided the need for a sales tax in Jersey. But as ever that place would prefer to tax the poor and ingratiate itself with the rich.

It is rotten to the core.