What next for the tax review?

It may now be possible that the scheduled session this coming weekend might also be postponed, or even cancelled.

Because it is clear today that the debate on introducing a goods and services tax in Guernsey is going nowhere – not with the public, who have generally been outspoken in opposition to the concept, and now, as revealed in the results of our canvassing over the past few days, among States members too.

Yes, most of them now do appear to understand that there may well be more income needed for public services in years to come.

But equally, most of them either have their own strongly held views, or can see the strongly held opinions of voters, and know now that they will not support a goods and services tax when, or if, the matter comes back to the States this summer.

Policy & Resources might well counter that much work still remains to be done on the tax review, and the wider #OurIslandOurFuture discussion, which hints at reassessing the kind of public sector we might wish to see in the next decade or more. We don’t hear much on that one in a debate dominated by tax.

After the first public feedback session on the tax review, Chief Minister Deputy Peter Ferbrache called for all deputies to take a stake in this debate and indicate where they stood, even on a provisional view.

‘To be fair the debate is not until July and information will come up between now and then, but they could give their provisional view about whether or not they are in favour of GST, or what package they would put forward. Some people have done that already, but I’d like all States members to do it,’ he said at that time.

Today he tells us that the committee doesn’t have a closed mind, and the four months or so between now and debate ‘should give time for all options to be properly considered’.

The Guernsey Press has done the initial survey work for Policy & Resources. It’s now the committee’s move.