Parkinson, who steps down from his position at the end of the month, was speaking at the island’s Chamber of Commerce April lunch yesterday using only a few notes and he also said afterwards that the speech was intended for a local audience.
He said that the island needed to move away from its reliance on tax loopholes and Guernsey had a public relations problem that needed to be addressed, The Guernsey Press & Star reported.
Instead, Guernsey’s newly-elected States needed to support the more traditional industries, such as tourism, he argued.
"We have seen a lot of hostile action, particularly from the UK, in the tax area, including LVCR (low value consignment relief), QROPS and eurobond interest. I’m afraid we will have to expect this to continue, at least for as long as we are seen to be a tax haven or, as George Osborne put it in his Budget, facilitating ‘aggressive tax avoidance’. We urgently need to reposition ourselves as a different type of economy."
