E Of Man Will Adopt Tax Information Sharing Agreements With The Uk

[sonswan]

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/business/isle-of-man-will-adopt-tax-information-sharing-agreements-with-the-uk-1-5207270

Would anyone care to offer their opinion on this? I am still rather surprised at the relatively moderate (or even negligible) price falls on the IOM to date.

I think the forthcoming fiscal squeeze and cuts to the public sector that will need to be taken, coupled with the above news may well impact HPs over the course of the next couple of years. I am still in disbelief at the relative stability in house prices over the past few years on the IOM.

[DeadLegs]

There is an additional source of house buyers that I have not yet mentioned.. retirees from (mainly) the U.K. who see the Isle of Man as some sort of paradise island with no inheritance tax, low direct taxes, excellent services, the rule of law, and an NHS that integrates with the NHS they are familiar with. However, as with most of my doom laden posts...I feel this paradise has a definite shelf life.. the IOM Government's reserves may be spent by 2015, and so far the government has been cutting the services it provides rather than cutting the back office of government.. so the local population is getting a reduction in services and no reduction in taxes or costs. As predicted in previous posts, the central government has been pushing responsibilities out from itself (and its own budget responsibilities) to the local commissioners etc, and again not reducing its tax rates (so in effect a stealth tax rise). I'd recommend the commissioners look very carefully to make sure they also taking on the pensions and historical employer liabilities for any public servants that get transferred to continue to provide those services, otherwise the local rates will be going up even more !

On the health front, it's going to be very expensive to maintain the health of this aging population, not just in terms of providing the services on the Isle of Man, but also when specialist referral is required to hospitals a plane and taxi ride away. Hopefully someone is considering contracting with hospitals in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as England.

Incidentally, there are no waiting list targets on the Isle of Man, so potentially it can be years before you get treatment by a specialist. I've heard of people who have decided to emigrate back to England to have the confidence of being treated in a timely manner, because they had a life threatening condition!

A further development, seems to be the (impending) reduction in flights to London, which is causing concern to the local offshore businesses who are worried that they will be forced to fly to London at mid day, and back the next day, instead of out at dawn and back at dusk. This will likely have cost implications, and possibly tax implications, and since the competitors in Jersey don't have that problem, may leave them at a business disadvantage.