NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE
Alright! suppose we accept for a moments that instead of being a tax haven the Island is what the government like it to be viewed as and use the public relations-friendly terms such as “low-tax jurisdiction” and “responsible business centre”.
When Allan Bell met journalists in London in the summer of 2014 the government was on a charm offensive to offset some of the negativity that its image as a tax haven has engendered and reinforces that ?gentler terminology?. Part of the process was to spell out to those journo?s just how the wealth that finance and related industries generate for government is used. Here?s a quote from an article at the time spawned by the visit:
?The Isle of Man image they want to project is this: a humble and honest hub for business that has no option to support itself economically by having low or no tax to attract investment, but which redistributes its revenues for the social good of the island’s 80,000 inhabitants.?
It went on;
?Having a welfare framework that redistributes the tax collected is important to Bell, who argues that for a low tax system to justify itself it must benefit the community living in it.?
However you only had to look at the Manx Independent letters page this week to see what the government?s application of welfare reform is doing.
The voxeurop.eu article we cited in an earlier post summed it up admirably the governments policy is;
?The Robin Hood effect backwards ? taking from the poor to give to the rich?.
The business model the government espouses that has provided all this ?growth? year on year has certainly benefited some but the others have been failed by this government and are now forced to endure further fiscal pain while Allan and his acolytes further develop their ?growth strategy?, the same one that got us in the hole we are in now.
The CM was also blathering about employment statistics this week talking down and criticism of the recent rise and he is right to a certain extent with 2% or thereabouts unemployed it?s a good record. But when you peel back the stats and look at the reality more and more employment is zero hour contract and minimum wage and even in employment people struggle financially to survive.
The Chief Minister of course has ?his fans? they are the people in good jobs with good pay benefiting from the government largesse and hoping to benefit even more from the EDF and tax breaks. These are the folk he feels at home with and likes to address. In his world business is god and businessmen the priests.
The Isle of Man is increasingly two parallel universes one inhabited by the Chief Minister, COMIN and those happy to float around in his illusory bubble where all is well and neigh-sayers enter at their peril.
The other a colder more miserable place where people struggle, eke out a living and get by. In this parallel universe the resentment is palpable. The Chief Minister said recently all governments are unpopular he?s heard all this before. It simply reinforces his arrogance and compounds the resentment many people already have for this greedy and selfish administration.
This government is not working for the social good of its 80,000 inhabitants. Despite the well choreographed PR message and news management people are not fooled!
BERNARD MOFFATT
Issued by: The Celtic News
23/01/16
THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE.
The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues
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