He and Simon Vermeulen were behind an amendment calling for islanders to be asked a simple yes/no question on if they supported it.
Deputy McKenna said that he had heard some people say that such a poll could cost about £300,000 but it had already cost £1.6m. to try to convince the community to accept GST.
It was all about democracy, said Deputy Vermeulen. The majority of the Assembly had been elected on a no-to-GST stance, so members owed it to the public to have full consensus and full consultation.
He highlighted how small businesses had not been brought along with the plans, and were already facing increased TRP, the secondary pension scheme and social security contributions.
If approved, the States Assembly & Constitution Committee would be responsible for the poll and its president Sarah Hansmann-Rouxel warned that the cost would be much more than that of the recent by-election of £55,000, and the issue could not be reduced to a simple yes/no question.
David Dorrity said last year’s election could itself have been seen as something of a referendum on GST because it had been brought up by many candidates and islanders.
The States was a representative government to make policy choices, said Neil Inder. These were often difficult decisions, but was the job of a politician to decide, not to put every major decision out to a referendum.
Andy Sloan supported a GST but nonetheless said he would vote for the referendum.
It would be a mistake not to give the public a chance to say what they think and a ‘huge betrayal of trust’ to ignore what was said at the ballot box, he said.
Rob Curgenven accepted that members were there to make adjustments on existing taxation or duties, but the GST was more than just an adjustment.
He believed in taxation by consent and supported the referendum idea.
Despite what some members had said, only 13 of the elected deputies had explicitly stated in their manifestos that they would not support GST, said Policy & Resources vice-president Yvonne Burford in replying to the debate. She expected that the referendum would cost about £200,000.
The amendment was lost by 25 votes to 14.
The same duo brought a further amendment to take a GST off the table altogether. Debate on that was set to continue this morning when the States reconvened at the earlier start time of 9am.
How they voted
... on Deputy Liam McKenna’s bid to take a vote on the introduction of a goods and services tax to referendum.
For (14): Deputies Camp, Collins, Curgenven, Gollop, Goy, Helyar, Matthews, McKenna, Ozanne, Sloan, van Katwyk, Vermeulen; Alderney representatives Hill and Snowdon.
Against (25): Deputies Blin, Burford, Bury, Cameron, de Sausmarez, Dorrity, Falla, Gabriel, Hansmann Rouxel, Humphreys, Inder, Kay-Mouat, Kazantseva-Miller, Laine, Le Brun, Leadbeater, Montague, Niles, Oswald, Parkinson, Rochester, Rylatt, St Pier, Strachan, Williams.
Absent: Deputy Malik.