Amendment: Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P102/2012): Amendment

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

Ministers are elected by the States Assembly and have legal responsibilities and powers as “corporation sole” under the States of Jersey Law 2005 by virtue of their office and in their areas of responsibility, including entering into agreements, and under any legislation conferring on them powers.

An accurate record of “Ministerial Decisions” is vital to effective governance, including:

demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
providing a record of decisions and actions that will be available for examination by States Members, and Panels and Committees of the States Assembly; the public, organisations, and the media; and as a historical record and point of reference for the conduct of public affairs

Ministers are individually accountable to the States Assembly, including for the actions of the departments and agencies which discharge their responsibilities.

The Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) Law 2011 is used as a guide when determining what information is be published. While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.

A decision made on 3 December 2012:

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2012-0108
Decision Summary Title:	Amendment: Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P.102/2012): amendment		Date of Decision Summary:	3 December 2012
Decision Summary Author:	Director of Tax Policy		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Amendment: Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P.102/2012): amendment		Date of Written Report:	3 December 2012
Written Report Author:	Director of Tax Policy		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Amendment: Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P.102/2012): amendment.
Decision(s): The Minister decided to lodge ‘au Greffe’ an amendment to the Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P.102/2012): amendment.
Reason(s) for Decision: To enable the Minister’s amendment to Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P.102/2012): amendment to be lodged ‘au Greffe’.
Resource Implications: There are no financial and manpower implications associated with the proposed changes.
Action required: The Greffier of the States to be requested to lodge “au Greffe” the amendment to Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P.102/2012): amendment.
Signature:		Position: Senator P F C Ozouf, Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Amendment: Draft Budget Statement 2013 (P102/2012): Amendment

DRAFT BUDGET STATEMENT 2013 FUEL/TOBACCO AMENDMENT

PAGE 2, PARAGRAPH (a) –

After the words “as set out in the Budget Statement” insert the words –

“except that the estimate of income from taxation during 2013 shall be decreased by £83,000 by limiting the proposed increases in fuel duty to 2 pence per litre and increasing the proposed increases on tobacco duty from 10% to 13.2%.

MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES

Note: This amendment is being proposed by the Minister for Treasury and Resources less than 14 days before the start of the debate in accordance with the provisions of Standing Order 80A(3) which states –

“(3) Notwithstanding standing order 26, the Minister for Treasury and Resources may propose, without notice, an amendment to a draft budget or taxation draft.”

Standing Order 80A(4)(b) provides that an amendment of this nature shall be debated “forthwith or at such other time or on such other day as the States decide”.

In accordance with the provisions of Standing Order 80A(4)(b), the Minister will seek the agreement of the States to debate this amendment during the debate on the draft Budget Statement 2013

REPORT

The Minister for Treasury and Resources has noted the comments and concerns put forward by Deputy Baudains of St Clement. As a result the Minister proposes an amendment to the Draft Budget Statement 2013 which will reduce the increase in fuel duty to 2 pence per litre; this represents an increase of 4.6%.

The financial implications of this amendment are that the increased revenue estimate of £1,435,000 duty on fuel will be reduced to £957,000.

In proposing this amendment the Minister would point out that historically there has only been one increase in fuel duty in the last 5 years. (See table below):

2009	2010	2011	2012
Nil	Nil	2p	Nil

This equates to only a 2p increase in duty on fuel over a 5 year period. Such figures indicate that increases in fuel duty have been moderate in nature and the increase proposed in this amendment is also considered to be a moderate one.

Once taxes and duties are removed from the pump price, Jersey’s fuel prices continue to be comparatively high. A litre of unleaded petrol net of duty and GST in Jersey is typically 0.75 pence compared to 0.53 pence in the UK. If the duty increase proposed in this amendment is introduced in 2013 Jersey will still have relatively low fuel duty rates. The increases in duty does not necessarily mean that the impact should be passed on to the motorist as there is scope for the increase to be absorbed into the margins of both the retail and wholesale markets.

To compensate for the loss in revenue as a result of the fuel duty amendment the Minister for Treasury and Resources proposes an amendment to the increase in tobacco duty in the Draft Budget Statement 2013. It was proposed to increase tobacco duty by 10%. It is now proposed that tobacco duties should increase by 13.2%. The amendment would increase the duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes by 50p.

The financial implications of this amendment are that the increased revenue estimate of £1,239,000 duty on tobacco will increase to £1,634,000.

In proposing this amendment the Minister has considered the fact that there seems to be a trend for passengers to import cigarettes in excess of their statutory allowances. The Minister has discussed this proposed increase with Officers from the Customs & Immigration Service and has been satisfied that the increase is not going to require them to allocate extra resources to this type of traffic. He has asked, however, that the Service continues to monitor this trend and report any significant change to the current situation.

The overall effect of these amendments would be a decrease in impôts revenue from £55,574,000 to £55,491,000 and a decrease in Total States Income from £647,044,000 to £646,961,000 being a net reduction of £83,000.