The letter, which raised ‘significant concerns’ about the levy and called for a delay to the tax review, was signed by three members of Economic Development – president Neil Inder and members Nick Moakes and Simon Vermeulen.
It emerged yesterday that deputies Steve Falla and Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, the other two on the committee, were not aware of the letter.
Deputy Falla said he might have signed it, had he been given the opportunity.
‘Had we decided to form a committee view, I think that would have been an interesting exercise, and I wouldn’t want to guess what the result might have been.
‘But we haven’t discussed it formally and I think it’s regrettable the way in which the article has been worded, starting with the words “three members of the Committee for Economic Development” – that kind of implies that the other two members are not on the same page. And the truth is no one knows whether we are or not, because we haven’t been asked.
‘I can see the validity of doing it because it does chime with our mandate, but I was surprised and because it’s made the news pages and it’s on the front page it’s even more prominent, and the assumption that it’s an Economic Development view is amplified.’
So far, the GST proposals have not been on a formal agenda for a meeting of Economic Development, although Deputy Falla anticipates that the matter will come up the next time they are all together.
He does not think that his exclusion from the letter was a calculated move.
Asked whether there was division within Economic Development, Deputy Falla struck a diplomatic note.
‘There is definitely not a division in Economic Development, but I would say that we have five strong-minded people and that allows for a robust exchange at times.
‘I don’t want to make this into a row, but I don’t think it’s a terribly good way for Economic Development to be represented.’
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.