In his column on 22 July, former Senator Ben Shenton said that an individual could be treated as a tax resident in Jersey if they owned a property here and stayed in it for just one night in a tax year.
Mr Shenton wrote that this was a ‘tax-haven policy’ and that Jersey needed to ‘find its moral compass and show more intelligence, or suffer the consequences’.
Commenting on the matter, Deputy Rob Ward said that if Mr Shenton was right, then the matter needed to be ‘addressed urgently’.
‘If that is correct, then this is not something which should be happening when we have a housing shortage in the Island,’ Deputy Ward said.
‘A lot of young people are finding it really difficult to find affordable housing.’
The Deputy added that he had asked questions in the States about the use of lock-up-and-leave properties, which are used solely as a financial investment and are not leased to tenants.
He added that he was concerned that the practice could take place at schemes built on government-owned land overseen by the Jersey Development Company
‘I have asked questions in the States about the lock-up-and-leave issue and people should really not be using Jersey property just for an investment,’ he said.
‘We have to do things differently if there are these high-value properties being built on government-owned land that are being used as lock up and leave.
‘I think it’s a problem that the shareholder of these arms-length companies, like the Jersey Development Company, is the Treasury Minister.
‘That means that people like the Housing Minister and the Environment Minister are not involved, even though there are wider issues there.’
Deputy Mike Higgins recently lodged a proposition calling for Jersey to introduce a fully transparent digital register of ultimate beneficial ownership of all domestic and commercial properties in the Island.
The JEP contacted the government press office on 22 July but has not yet received a response to the questions posed.
