Ultra-right-wing group demands the States flog off the family silver

Our old friends at the Jersey Taxpayers' Alliance have poked up their heads again - this time, they're looking for the States to hold a fire sale of anything not turning a profit.

Roger Bale, the former shipping exec who passed down the chairman's seat at Huelin-Renouf to his son Jonathan a few years back and the founder of the JPA, has called for the States to perform a complete audit of their property portfolio and sell anything not generating more than a 4% return to fund public works projects. His comments come after it was revealed that a States-owned property and historic building that the States voted to keep in public ownership in 2014, Piquet House in the Royal Square, will remain empty until at least 2020 due to funding not being available for refurbishment.

Here's the thing. Bale is a businessman, and so he's used to operating with one aim in mind - making a fat profit for his shareholders (not to mention himself - evidently he did pretty well if he was able to invest £50K into setting up the JPA). Government doesn't work like that. The objective of government isn't and shouldn't be to make a profit - it's there to serve the people. This is particularly prominent with things like historic buildings - the fact that Piquet House has been neglected isn't an argument for it to be flogged off to the highest bidder, it's an argument for further state investment in the maintenance of historic buildings. Of course, that's not actually what this is about, because the JPA is an ideological project - it's a voice for comfortable rich people like Bale who wouldn't know poverty if it slapped them in the face, in an attempt to implement their anti-tax, anti-spending agenda. Here are some facts about the JPA's national equivalent, the group the JPA follows and takes guidance from:

- 60% of its donations come from individuals or groups giving more than £5K
- Their proposals include scrapping the building of new secondary schools, abolishing child benefit and binning the Sure Start centers for young children
- Their director, Alexander Heath, lives in a farmhouse in Loire in France and hasn't paid British tax for years
- Labour MP Jon Cruddas has accused the group of being a 'front' for the Conservative party

Do we really want these insidious types gaining a foothold on Jersey's political scene? Do we really want gobby rich people pumping tens of thousands into promoting an anti-tax political agenda?

No, thanks.