GST is on the cards, ministers now admit
A SALES tax is being considered with a possible introduction from 2019, the Policy Council confirmed yesterday.
It released a previously confidential paper in the wake of a report yesterday in the Guernsey Press that a 5% goods and services tax (GST) would be proposed.
The update paper on the tax, pensions and benefits review from Treasury minister Gavin St Pier and Social Security minister Allister Langlois outlines a package of measures, which could also include the scrapping of universal benefits, such as family allowance, and further extending the pension age.
In June, the two ministers will go to the States with the final update report, which should include a recommendation that Treasury reports back to the States no later than June 2017, 'on the implications of introducing a broad based consumption tax no earlier than 2019'.
'The joint boards consider that the option of introducing a broad consumption tax (which could include sales taxes, value added taxes, goods and services taxes or a tax on luxury goods) merits more detailed investigation,' it said.
'It is recognised that any investigation into consumption taxes will need to include measures to protect vulnerable groups.'
