1/9 LONG THREAD ALERT: My dad mentioned this article over lunch today. In it, Susie Pinel suggests taxes may have to rise to replenish the rainy day fund that is being used to help gov departments/ businesses/ people during this pandemic https://twitter.com/JEPnews/status/1252880347458531330">https://twitter.com/JEPnews/s...

2/9 I agree we need to rebuild the rainy day fund. But I disagree with Suzie’s suggestion that we raise more tax money by lowering the tax exemption threshold (£15,900/year) & hitting the poorest in our society the hardest.

3/9 Lowering the threshold will bring in extra tax from everyone who pays into the system, yes. But it will hit the people who have lower wages the hardest. But who has low wages and is under the threshold? Well by my workings…

4/9 If you:

-Work fulltime (let& #39;s say: 37.5hours/week) & earn living wage(£10.55/hour) you will already be eligible to pay tax

-Work fulltime & earn minimum wage(£8.32)you would be under the threshold

- Are on a training contract you can be paid even less!

5/9 These are the people Susie suggested taking tax money from. People earning LESS THAN what experts say you need to be able to live in Jersey (Living Wage). Of course, not all people earning under the threshold are making minimum wage...

6/9 ...Some earn more but work part-time. Some earn more but have a long list of exemptions, expenses & allowances. But by lowering the threshold, minimum wage workers and those on training contracts will be hit that hardest.

7/9 Of course, no decisions have been made yet. But I think it’s dangerous that the treasury minister can casually suggest taking money from the poorest in our society without anyone kicking up much of a fuss.

8/9 Is it really acceptable to ask the lowest-paid workers in our community to carry the biggest burden when it comes to footing the bill for this pandemic? I don’t think so. I guess time will tell what the Government of Jersey thinks…

Disclaimer: Tax is sooooo complicated & there are loads of exceptions & tax relief benefits that I have not explored in this thread. Just wanted to highlight what she said would hurt lower-paid workers A LOT!

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I’ll go do some actual work now