A further 70 people were estimated to be watching a live-stream of the meeting on Facebook.
The committee, minus Andy Niles, who was off-island, answered questions for more than an hour-and-a-half, including what evidence of public opposition would P&R actually accept as meaningful against the tax reform package.
The question came from Dominic Naermont, one of two islanders behind yesterday’s GST protest and upcoming protests this week from Wednesday.
However the committee said that other than on social media, there seemed little opposition to the proposals, and it had taken as many opportunities as possible to engage with the public about the package.
‘We live in a very different age now where social media can influence perceptions, and by looking at social media, you would think everybody is very against this package,’ said Steve Falla.
‘The way in which you make your feelings known as a citizen of Guernsey is through contacting a deputy and lobbying them, because they are your representative, and it will be them who is voting on this.’
It was the second poorly-attended public meeting to have been held within a few days, following a meeting in St Martin’s. P&R had also hosted two Q&A live-streams on Facebook.
‘We have a P&R this term where all five members go onto social media fairly regularly, we read and listen to what is being said and respond to what is being said. That is the new public square in many ways,’ said Yvonne Burford.
‘It doesn’t represent everybody on the island, but we do listen.
‘Social media is where the groundswell of this opposition is to be found. I don’t tend to find it much outside of that.’
She said that when she had spoken to people and responded to comments on social media, a lot of people did not understand all of the parts of the package.
Committee president Lindsay de Sausmarez said that the committee had taken every opportunity it could to listen to people’s concerns.
The package put forward has been shaped directly from the feedback that members of the public had given, she said, and added that after explaining the entire package beyond GST aspect to people, they typically understand and sometimes end the discussion in full support.
‘We are here to act in the best interests of the island and we have a pressing need for tax reform.
‘We have taken every opportunity to engage with the community in the form of Q&As, individual meetings, interest groups, community groups, business groups.
‘We have been run off our feet for the last 12 months that we have been in office, very deliberately listening to what people have to say, and that’s why we’re putting forward the proposals that we are.’