Calls for Sark to pay Guernsey taxes to receive healthcare and education from the Bailiwick
Sark is just 16 kilometers from Guernsey but residents pay less in tax than other islands in the Bailiwick.
Under Sark’s tax law islanders only pay property and personal tax.
This means Sark’s citizens are not entitled to essential services such as healthcare and education in Guernsey, however some residents are pushing for that to change.
Helen Walsh, who opened a café on the island over three years ago, was forced to move with her husband to Alderney after she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and was unable to get medical insurance.
She supports a change in the island’s laws, she said: "If Sark was to go in with Guernsey under the medical care so we can pay into Guernsey's healthcare the same way I can do in Alderney then we would be staying in Sark but as things are we feel we haven't got any choice but to leave."
Until Sark voted to become a democracy in 2008, it operated as a fiefdom ruled by respective Seigneurs - it was famously Europe’s last remaining feudal state.
Sark's policy and finance committee says that change is needed to provide services such as education to Sark’s younger residents and to improve essential infrastructure.
However, they don’t believe that the way forward is by aligning itself with Guernsey's tax system.
Instead, committee head John Guille, has suggested raising taxes or long-term borrowing could be explored to cover unavoidable projects such as the harbour and the Coupee causeway between Big Sark and Little Sark.
He added: “Sark can't afford to lose younger residents - and rest assured there will be plenty of discussions to come to ensure the island and islanders don't get left behind.”
Guernsey's Lieutenant Governor Richard Cripwell, has suggested change is needed.
He said: “Standing still just ensures any society goes backwards. I always believe if change is inevitable it’s important to get ahead of the change and be in a position to shape that change"
But not everyone agrees, Elizabeth Peree who has run La Sablonnerie hotel for more than half a century doesn't want closer ties to Guernsey
She said: "We must keep our independence, we don't wish to be under Guernsey, I certainly don't wish to be.
“There is no such thing as a free lunch, pay a little tax and we'll get this and that. I personally think we're in a very good situation."
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