David Goy believes that a series of amendments he is preparing, which propose raising more tax from wealthier households, would help avoid the need to introduce a goods and services tax.
His ideas include imposing additional taxes on the owners of vacant properties and expensive vehicles, a higher rate of document duty on luxury property transactions, and minimum financial contributions from households living in the island’s largest properties and new open market residents.
When the States started its tax and spending meeting in July, a majority of deputies took advantage of a rarely used procedural rule to discard several of Deputy Goy’s ideas without discussion, after the Bailiff ruled that amendments which proposed deleting Policy & Resources’ tax package automatically went beyond the subject of debate.
‘To be very honest, given the way this procedural rule is currently being interpreted, I think any amendment that does not simply modify P&R’s tax package risks being ruled out of scope and left at the mercy of those who do not want the proposals debated, who could effectively torpedo them,’ said Deputy Goy yesterday.
‘Nevertheless, instead of using the wording “delete all propositions”, as in my previous amendments, I am now using the wording "to insert an additional proposition".
‘I am under no illusion that this change will necessarily prevent them from being torpedoed under the rules of procedure.’
Deputy Goy has drafted a total of eight amendments ahead of the resumption of the tax and spending debate on 30 September. They are among more than 20 new amendments being worked on, which will be added to the 16 which the States ran out of time to debate at its previous three-day sitting.
An underutilised property levy, potentially using the existing TRP system, would impose charges on homes left vacant for more than 12 months or used as holiday bolt-holes.
Deputy Goy said the owners of such homes were ‘using scarce Guernsey properties as passive stores of wealth or for speculation’, but he wanted to see exemptions for those with ‘valid and reasonable reasons for having to leave their properties vacant’.
A fair contribution levy would require the most affluent households to make ‘a proportionate contribution where they are not already doing so’. Deputy Goy believed that could be done by targeting households living in the largest 10% of properties with exemptions designed to exclude ‘those the levy is not designed for’.
His proposed premium road levy envisages higher charges when registering a vehicle purchased for more than £65,000 and an annual fee on the most powerful 10% of vehicles in the island.
He would like to see higher document duties charged when a property changes hands for more than £2.5m. and mandatory tax contributions of £150,000 from anyone new to the open market.
‘These five alternative taxes are designed specifically to avoid placing additional burdens on ordinary islanders,’ said Deputy Goy.
He claimed that the three other amendments he was preparing would focus on the need to reduce public spending.
They would require States committees to provide at least 30 days’ public notice before hiring a member of staff on a total annual remuneration package of at least £100,000 a year, or a consultant expected to cost at least £100,000, and set up a public project tracker to provide updates on States initiatives costing at least £1m.