Welcome to this special extended edition of the April 2019 Taxcast, broadcast from the tax haven of Jersey In this special extended edition of the April 2019 Taxcast, broadcast from the tax haven of Jersey: – we explore Jersey’s poor showing in the OECD’s Better Life Index and aswhy Jersey’s spending so much money on improving it’s bad image instead of setting up public registers of beneficial ownership information – we interview the tax haven of Jersey’s former Chief Advisor to the government, one of Jersey’s main architects of its offshore business model – we hear about Jersey’s dysfunctional political system from an elected representative of Jersey’s only political party Reform Jersey and its rising inequality levels – and we speak to the fire-starters of the global tax justice movement – it aall started in Jersey… “We don’t have politics in Jersey. We’re creating it now. We have in Reform Jersey the only political party in Jersey, stands on a platform and tries to adhere to its platform. That’s unique in Jersey politics because Jersey politics is run by 49 individuals who stand up and say, I’m a good bloke, good businessman. Vote for me. I’ll look after the best interests of the island. Trust me. And very little else usually in terms of policy.” ~Geoff Southern, elected Deputy and co-founder of Jersey’s only political party Reform Jersey “London doesn’t have the political stability that we have because they have political parties which mean that they might change governments.” ~Colin Powell, Jersey’s former Chief Advisor to the government, one of Jersey’s main architects of its offshore business model “I don’t expect this to be paradise on earth, just a society where people can work together rather than all the money flowing upwards which I think is what’s intended, it shouldn’t all flow upwards like that. I could see that it was grossly unfair but then I know life can be unfair so I wasn’t shocked, I was just wondering what I could do about it.” ~ Pat Lucas, one of the fire-starters of the global tax justice movement in Jersey “There was that feeling of secrecy and I always said that for me that feeling was worse here than I had experienced in Chile in 1973 which was a difficult time in Chile. I was very surprised to see that here you had to be very careful before speaking your mind. It was this totally amoral approach to a lot of things that amazed me. People are frightened to step out of line, people want to tow the line, but sometimes you can’t.” Jean Anderson, one of the fire-starters of the global tax justice movement in Jersey Featuring Geoff Southern, elected Deputy and co-founder of Reform Jersey, Jersey’s only political party Colin Powell, Jersey’s former Chief Advisor to the government, one of Jersey’s main architects of its offshore business model Financial crime consultant Graham Barrow, also of the Dark Money Files podcast Two of the fire-starters of the global tax justice movement n Jersey, Pat Lucas and Jean Anderson John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network Click here to listen |
Be the first to comment