Policy & Resources president Lindsay de Sausmarez arrived shortly before the meeting was due to begin, whereas at the first stage of the debate in July she had spent a long time speaking with protestors.
She claimed the protest was specifically about GST and not the tax package as a whole.
‘It’s not something that anyone welcomes. I don’t either, on its own, but that’s not what we’re proposing,’ she said.
‘We’re proposing a major restructure of our tax base that actually lifts the tax burden off the shoulders of individuals.’
She said it was a message that many people had not had an opportunity to ‘get their heads round’.
‘We’re debating a major restructure of our tax system that will put our public finances on a stable footing and reduce our vulnerability to economic shocks and really make sure that we’ve got that sound platform for us to invest in our economy and our future,’ she said.
Our reporters Lucy Rouget and Amy Hext spoke to some of the key voices from inside the States, and from the protest
P&R member Steve Falla reiterated that GST was only a part of the tax reform propoals, but acknowledged it was not popular.
‘We’re doing what we believe is the right thing for sustainable finances for the island. It’s not a quick fix,’ he said.
‘The easiest thing for us to do would be to give in, but it’s not right for the future, I’m convinced of that.’
Deputy Falla said he had been listening to people who were against the proposal, but he remained convinced that the committee would be foolish to delay tax reform and then have to revisit the same issues at a later date.
‘We really need to make a decision,’ he said.
‘There’s too much uncertainty and we need to think of the future.’
Standing with protesters, Haley Camp said she was listening to the public, and it was frustrating that some of her colleagues were not listening.
‘We seem to be back looking at an imperfect package,’ she said.
‘Lots of people have said it’s imperfect and there are many, many valid reasons why people have said it’s imperfect, and yet here we still are.’
She said that the number of amendments showed that there were a lot of identified issues with the policy letter.
‘There is an unprecedented number of amendments here and I don’t think that this decision should be rushed through and made quickly,’ said Deputy Camp.
‘I don’t think it’s a bad thing for there to be a bit more time to go away and listen.
‘The reality is that it would have been better for this policy letter to have felt more like a collaborative piece of work among all 40 members, rather than having to do it this way.’
Last-ditch attempt to ensure deputies ‘listen to the people’
Protesters outside the Royal Court yesterday said they were making a last-ditch attempt to ensure that deputies would ‘listen to the people’.
More than 100 people were gathered, many holding placards provided by former deputy Carl Meerveld, to provide something of an intimidating crowd for deputies entering the courthouse.
Business owner Brian Harris returned to the scene of protests from 10 weeks ago with the same message for States members. He said he worried about the impact that GST would have on small business owners.
‘Businesses are really struggling and it’s going to put the cost on the people not the businesses, so people are going to really suffer with GST,’ he said.
Michelle Harris said she was ‘astonished by the number of businesses that did not know what GST was’. She also feared that GST would force some small businesses to close. ‘They just won’t want to deal with the hassle,’ she said.
One protest organiser, Lars Janssen, said he was fed up and still disappointed about the lack of impact of July’s protest, which saw about twice the number crowding St James Street.
‘I was hoping that P&R would have the ability and the opportunity to do some reflection and maybe consider some things that had been said,’ he said.
Although he continued to lead calls against GST, he suspected that most deputies knew how they would be voting.
‘We can all go home, the deputies as well, as they clearly have no intention of debating today, which was also the case last time,’ he said.
‘They’re showing their true colours and true intent.’
Chris Murray had organised a petition which he brought with him to the steps of the court building.
He said that he was ‘extremely pleased’ to have collected more than 9,000 signatures – ‘more than I thought we would’.
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