Guernsey Press

Dodging death by 1,000 taxes

THE 2025 Budget manages to be both complex and simple at the same time.

Published

Complex because we’ve never seen the likes of an increase to the basic rate of income tax, simple because it avoids the situation of a couple of percentage points on this and a couple on that, as the States appeared to commit themselves to late last year when voting down both a goods and services tax, and the Fairer Alternative proposals, while ultimately committing to many, if not all, of its revenue-raising ideas.

It’s understood now that this has become a sticking point with some deputies, who wanted to see taxes which can influence behaviours – particularly motoring taxes – to come to the fore, as directed.

But P&R appears to have left these on the shelf.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and it certainly seemed that way when the Fairer Alternative was looking at every possible way of raising revenue, while largely ignoring the basic consumption tax and income tax.

The problem for the States is, if you think it’s awkward selling a GST, try selling a specific motoring tax. Followed by another one. Followed by a different sort of property tax. And so on.

You get near-GST levels of pain from the public over and over again. So it’s both understandable, and politically practical, to move away from a blizzard of mini taxes.