A LARGE majority of the Isle of Man’s voters would like to see a referendum on any future proposals the government might put to the UK over VAT, according to an election survey.
Latest statistics from the ‘Manx People Power’ survey, which has been organised by respected marketing expert Professor Hugh Davidson, suggest that there is considerable unhappiness with the way the Manx government has handled the VAT issue.
The results from the survey, announced today, showed that a massive 68% were in favour of having VAT proposals submitted to an Isle of Man referendum before acceptance.
From a sample of 1,055 people, only 22% voted against the idea of a referendum, and 10% said ‘don’t know’. Younger people, aged 16-24, had the largest majority in favour – 82%.
There have been two recent changes in the VAT Sharing Agreements with the UK – one in 2009, and the second in July 2011. The full impact of these changes, when transitional arrangements run out in 2014, will be a reduction in Isle of Man Government income of £190 million per year. This works out at £5,400 per household, every year, or around 35% of net Government spending.
The survey showed that most Isle of Man residents were very concerned about this future change, and considered it the most important issue facing the country.
The three most important issues spontaneously mentioned by survey interviewees were VAT (50%), other general financial issues (33%), and spending cuts in education, health, and social services (15%). No other single issues were mentioned by more than 10% of interviewees.
While they rated the government’s performance on education, health, and law and order very positively, they gave the thumbs down to the VAT negotiations. A figure of 48% rated performance on VAT negotiations as ‘poor’, versus only 17% ‘good’ – a ratio of almost 3 to 1.
The remainder either gave an ‘average’ rating (27%) or said ‘don’t know’ (8%). Men were particularly negative about the VAT negotiations, with 56% rating government performance ‘poor’.
The Manx People Power Survey suggests that most residents think the UK Government treated the Isle of Man unfairly in the VAT negotiations. The question was asked: “Do you think that the UK Government is treating the IOM fairly, or unfairly, in the negotiations of the VAT Agreement with the IOM Government?
Responses showed that 62% said ‘unfair’ versus 16% ‘fair’, a ratio of almost 4:1, with the rest saying ‘don’t know’ or having no opinion.
