Mark Cox said that ‘many households are feeling the pressure of rising costs’.
‘We have been clear for some time that taking GST off essential food would be a straightforward way to help people with their weekly shop,’ he said.
‘With food prices still under pressure from global inflation, this feels like the right moment for a new government to look seriously at how it can ease the burden on households.’
The Guernsey States has so far rejected the prospect of exempting food from GST but now appears ready to introduce a lower GST at 3%, or maybe none at all.
The Jersey Consumer Council has warned that initial price reductions achieved by taking GST off supermarket shopping would be wiped out within a matter of weeks or months and could lead to higher tax rates on other essentials.
Mr Cox told the Jersey Evening Post that removing GST on essential foods would be a relatively simple exercise for his business.
‘Because our pricing is fully digital, we can update prices centrally across all our stores,’ he said.
‘That means that if GST was removed, we could pass that change through to customers overnight.
‘Food is not a luxury, it is a basic need, and any step that helps make it more affordable will have a real and immediate impact for islanders.
‘We would support moves in this direction and stand ready to work with government if they choose to take this forward.’
A Jersey Consumer Council spokesman said it was cautious on the approach of removing GST.
‘The rate at which grocery prices continue to rise means that the initial 5% reduction would be wiped out within a matter of weeks or months, leaving the government with millions of pounds to find, presumably by raising the GST on everything else.’
Last year a petition was raised to remove GST from food in Jersey. Its government responded: ‘Analysis undertaken by Treasury indicates that the GST rate on non-food goods and on services would need to be raised by roughly one percentage point (to 6%) to recover the revenue lost from removing GST on food.’
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