16 October 2017
A new chat about personal taxation is being launched using the Apptivism chatbot on Facebook Messenger.
The chat aims to gather some Island opinion about perceptions of equality in the current tax system and find out the broad direction that people would like the system for taxing households, married or otherwise, to take in the future.
The findings from the chat will then help inform the approach taken by Treasury and Resources when they widen the consultation and engagement on the subject in 2018. The chat will cover how married couples are taxed.
The Treasury and Resources Minister, Senator Alan Maclean, said “ In my previous Budgets I have taken steps to improve the equality of the tax system, for example removing gender based tax allowances. I would like to continue that process and start to address the fact that households with the same income can be subject to different amounts of tax”
“This chat is a useful way for us to begin the wider conversation with Islanders about how we approach this complex task and is just one of the ways that we will be engaging over the coming months.”
This is the fourth time that a States of Jersey department has worked with Apptivism to engage with people. Over 1,400 views have been given through the chats on environment and community. It takes three minutes to complete and can be accessed through Facebook Messenger m.me/apptivism.je.
Co-founder of Apptivism, Alex Tupper, said: “more and more islanders are giving their view on the apptivism platform. We have had really positive feedback - especially around ease of use and the ability for citizens to see the wider results as well as feedback from the States on our website.”
gov.je