Another argument against GST
MANY may disagree with a good number of the issues put forward by the ‘think tank’ he chairs, but Gpeg chairman Lord Digby Jones made some good points in yesterday’s newspaper as he argued against the introduction of a goods and services tax for Guernsey.
He challenged the introduction of GST as anti-competitive. He became the latest to argue that the States would be unlikely to stop drawing on this new tax and 5% would soon shoot up. And, most intriguingly, called out the States’ ‘(Robin) Hoodenomics’ – the concept of raising £75m., and then handing back a third of that to the lowest-paid in the island.
In proposing a package of measures, some of which, to be fair, involving corporate tax reforms already ruled out by the States, Lord Digby also called on every aspect of Guernsey to play its part.
So close, and at the same time so far away from the vision of the States, which also seeks to draw more contributions into the net – but via GST.
‘We can only ask businesses to rise to this challenge if they see the public sector meeting them halfway,’ he concludes.
That is the ultimate parting of the ways. For every scaremongering threatened public service cut, there are islanders still believing more can be done in this regard. One reason why the GST concept will continue to struggle to take off.