Tristan : St Helena EXCO REPORT 68 – 19th April 2011
Submitted by Tristan Times (Sarah Glass) 19.04.2011 (Article Archived on 31.05.2011)
The first item was a request for us to endorse A Strategy for the Elimination of Untargeted Subsidies.
St Helena EXCO REPORT 68 – 19th April 2011
All were present at today’s meeting of Executive Council.
The first item was a request for us to endorse A Strategy for the Elimination of Untargeted Subsidies. This strategy has already been endorsed by all Elected Members at a recent Info Legco. We concluded that the paper should in fact be re-named “A Strategy for the efficient Targeting of Subsidies”. The reason for that is that we are not actually trying to eliminate subsidy, rather Councillors are striving to find the best way of making sure that the subsidies are paid to those who most need them. In fact by reducing some subsidies we will be able to be far more generous to those who need financial help. This is a policy that is clearly directed toward assisting the poor and being able to do so by ensuring that those who can afford to pay actually do so in a manner that is fair.
It did not escape my notice that the letter handed to me during the demonstration last Saturday actually had that principle as the last of the four points that were made.
This attention to establishing fairness in subsidisation is brought about both by the need for a long term strategy as defined in the MOU but also by the principle that the elimination of untargeted subsidies contributes to equitable growth and the sustainable development of St.Helena.
There were several mechanisms for achieving the fair targeting of subsidies mentioned in the Paper:
· Targeting a particular sector or product,
· Emphasising the need for efficiency savings, e.g. more wind turbines, or
· More efficient revenue collection or divestment,
There were many areas of government activity that were highlighted by the Working Group as worthy of consideration, and it was stressed that this is a long term policy and will be phased as much as possible to dovetail sensibly with growth in the economy.
We then considered a letter from the Chamber of Commerce on the issue of Taxation Reforms and Utility Increases. In general this was felt to be a helpful and positive letter which contained some interesting suggestions and advice. The Chamber stated that “It is the view of our membership that these reforms do not go far enough” and they are strongly in support of the move from direct to indirect taxation. They were however concerned over rises in utility charges and the Financial Secretary undertook to draft a letter for EXCO to consider as a reply.
We then approved the minutes of three previous meetings before moving on to Any Other Business.
We then discussed the letter that I had received from the demonstration last Saturday. Councillors confirmed that the decisions on the reform of taxation had been made by Legislative Council and they have always intended to review the situation in InfoLegco when the full social impact analysis is available shortly. Most of you will know that I am due to meet with some of the demonstrators tomorrow (Wednesday) and I undertook to prepare a report on that meeting for their consideration.
The meeting finished at around 1.10 pm
Andrew Gurr
Governor
19th April 2011
All were present at today’s meeting of Executive Council.
The first item was a request for us to endorse A Strategy for the Elimination of Untargeted Subsidies. This strategy has already been endorsed by all Elected Members at a recent Info Legco. We concluded that the paper should in fact be re-named “A Strategy for the efficient Targeting of Subsidies”. The reason for that is that we are not actually trying to eliminate subsidy, rather Councillors are striving to find the best way of making sure that the subsidies are paid to those who most need them. In fact by reducing some subsidies we will be able to be far more generous to those who need financial help. This is a policy that is clearly directed toward assisting the poor and being able to do so by ensuring that those who can afford to pay actually do so in a manner that is fair.
It did not escape my notice that the letter handed to me during the demonstration last Saturday actually had that principle as the last of the four points that were made.
This attention to establishing fairness in subsidisation is brought about both by the need for a long term strategy as defined in the MOU but also by the principle that the elimination of untargeted subsidies contributes to equitable growth and the sustainable development of St.Helena.
There were several mechanisms for achieving the fair targeting of subsidies mentioned in the Paper:
· Targeting a particular sector or product,
· Emphasising the need for efficiency savings, e.g. more wind turbines, or
· More efficient revenue collection or divestment,
There were many areas of government activity that were highlighted by the Working Group as worthy of consideration, and it was stressed that this is a long term policy and will be phased as much as possible to dovetail sensibly with growth in the economy.
We then considered a letter from the Chamber of Commerce on the issue of Taxation Reforms and Utility Increases. In general this was felt to be a helpful and positive letter which contained some interesting suggestions and advice. The Chamber stated that “It is the view of our membership that these reforms do not go far enough” and they are strongly in support of the move from direct to indirect taxation. They were however concerned over rises in utility charges and the Financial Secretary undertook to draft a letter for EXCO to consider as a reply.
We then approved the minutes of three previous meetings before moving on to Any Other Business.
We then discussed the letter that I had received from the demonstration last Saturday. Councillors confirmed that the decisions on the reform of taxation had been made by Legislative Council and they have always intended to review the situation in InfoLegco when the full social impact analysis is available shortly. Most of you will know that I am due to meet with some of the demonstrators tomorrow (Wednesday) and I undertook to prepare a report on that meeting for their consideration.
The meeting finished at around 1.10 pm
Andrew Gurr
Governor
19th April 2011
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