Having ruled out major disruptive tax changes, the sub-committee has put forward new tax options worth only about £3m. a year. It said that a combination of Pillar II taxes of about £40m., and £50m. from GST-plus, were the best bet to go most of the way.
Arch GST critic Deputy Charles Parkinson and Gavin St Pier, who has never voted for a GST package, were both on the sub-committee, and the whole committee’s support for GST-plus had been considered to be weak.
However, Policy & Resources Committee president Lindsay de Sausmarez said that there was still much to talk about on the future funding of public services. The committee will have to produce its final recommendations in the next four weeks.
She denied that a bid to find more corporate tax solutions to the running annual deficit in government finances had backfired.
‘The sub-committee has done what we asked them to do, they’ve left no stone unturned and explored all alternatives,’ she said.
She said that the sub-committee report only considered corporate tax options and assessed the GST-plus package, and did not address the potential for savings or options for new motoring taxes.
‘We will address the bigger picture in our policy letter and will put out as much information into the public domain as we can. There are various options and we will place them all before the Assembly.’
Deputy Parkinson said his committee had come up with some useful reforms to corporate tax, but by a majority was not prepared to move further than the systems in place in Jersey and the Isle of Man.
He admitted that he ‘held a slightly different view’ but had agreed to sign off on a report which said ‘there is no simple answer and no silver bullet’.
It described its recommendations as ‘supporting a pragmatic way forward’.
Deputy Parkinson said that P&R was now considering the longer-term financial position of the States in more detail as Pillar II income continued to rise. He said that discussions were starting to centre on the need for GST-plus, and, if so, when it might need to be introduced.
‘July will be a major debate and there will be quite a diversity of opinions, I suspect,’ he said.
The sub-committee will front up at a public meeting organised for next Monday evening at Les Cotils, and P&R has outlined its plans to publish its Tax Review recommendations on 8 June for a July debate.
There will be public drop-ins in the period before the meeting, and the States Accounts for 2025, expected to show a positive snapshot position, will be published at the beginning of June before the Tax Review report comes out.
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