Income tax and fuel revenue (FOI)

Request

I would like to request the following:

A

The amount of income tax collected by the Government of Jersey (GOJ) for the previous two years from citizens who earn £32,000 per year or less?

B

The amount of tax collected from fuel purchases for road vehicles on Island.

Response

A

The most recent complete data sets held by Revenue Jersey are for 2018 and 2019. Assessing for 2020 is still underway.

For the year of assessment 2018, £45m of income tax was charged on those earning £32,000 per annum or less. For the year of assessment 2019, £46m was charged.

For 2018 and 2019, married couples were taxed as one taxpayer. The above figures therefore only reflect circumstances in which the combined earnings of a couple are less than £32,000.

For the purpose of this question, ‘earnings’ has been taken to mean employment income, self-employment income and shareholder income. Taxpayers may have additional unearned income that may be significantly higher than their earned income. The figures provided represent the total amounts collected from these individuals.

B 

The amount of tax collected from fuel duties is available in the States of Jersey Annual Report and Accounts. The information is therefore exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) 2011 as it is accessible by other means.

The relevant table in the 2020 States of Jersey Annual Reports and Accounts is on page 217:

2020 States of Jersey Annual Reports and Accounts

Article applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.