No to GST, but financial woes remain
VARIOUS conclusions are being reached on the impact that a 50-person-strong protest march against a goods and services tax will have on the public and the wider States.
Why did so few people turn up? A bad idea to hold it over the Jubilee weekend? The threat of rain in the air? Insufficient publicity? Or because they think that the GST vote is a done deal – either way?
Certainly some deputies think it's a done deal – especially opponents of GST.
Those who attended were on transmit rather than listening mode – they knew the audience was with them and they knew which lines would work.
Deputy Charles Parkinson has been consistent over corporate tax and has at least forced a formal, external review of that system – one which may, or may not produce savings for the taxpayer.
Others were nakedly populist. The States is ‘lazy’ and GST won’t go through, certainly not before 2025.
Let’s face it, we probably didn’t need a protest march. If the States backs off from introducing secondary pensions because of economic pressures on islanders, how will they suddenly be prepared to put 8% on islanders’ spending, or similar on Income Tax?
But the States’ financial issues won’t disappear over these next three years. They will get worse. And somehow, whether it’s through increased taxes, or facing poorer services, islanders will be paying.