5% GST, no tax-free food… and axing alternatives – How day 2 of the tax debate played out

Deputies spent a second day debating Policy & Resources’ (P&R) proposed tax reforms, with a long list of amendments and alternatives in the table.

The States spent most of Thursday arguing over how GST should work, who should be protected from it and what conditions should be attached before any future rises.

But members also spent part of the afternoon throwing out several amendments without debate before eventually running out of time.

The debate will resume at 09:00 on today (Friday).

Here’s how day two unfolded.

5% GST could arrive within 4 years

The biggest vote of the day came on Deputy Gavin St Pier’s Amendment 55.

Deputies backed a mechanism which would see GST start at 3%, with potential rises to 4% and then 5% in later years.

The amendment also places a series of conditions on future increases and includes a fiscal rule preventing GST from exceeding 5%.

Not everyone was comfortable with the move.

Deputy Charles Parkinson warned that supporting the amendment would be seen as backing a “glide path” towards higher GST rates. However, the Assembly approved it.

Despite voting for the amendment, Deputy Andy Cameron said he didn’t support raising GST to 5%.

He said he supported other parts of Deputy St Pier’s proposals, but as these could not be “divided”, those parts would be “voted on separately at the end of the debate”.

“I supported it so that worthwhile safeguards and proposals concerning younger earners, first-time buyers, families and Social Security could still be considered.”

He said he did not support GST rising to 5% and would “vote against the substantive GST propositions”.

Deputies also backed Deputy Rob Curgenven’s amendment requiring a planned review and delivery of £20m of annual States savings before GST could rise above its initial rate.

No GST before the sweeteners

Members also agreed GST should not come into force until the wider package of tax cuts, social security changes, benefit increases and Essential Cost Relief Payments is already operating.

And they decisively rejected a proposal to remove the Essential Cost Relief Payment from the package altogether.

In short, if GST arrives, the compensation measures must arrive first.

Hedge veg exempt

One of the clearest decisions of the day was on food.

Deputies rejected a proposal from Deputy Aidan Matthews to exempt all food and non-alcoholic drinks from GST.

However, they later approved Deputy Marc Leadbeater’s narrower amendment exempting food produced or grown by small independent suppliers.

So supermarket food remains in scope, but some locally-produced food could avoid the tax.

A separate amendment means Alderney’s electricity and water providers should not be left carrying irrecoverable GST costs.

Growth and wealth tax proposals fall flat

Not every attempt to reshape the package found support.

Deputies rejected Deputy Haley Camp’s proposal for a formal economic growth plan to sit alongside the tax reforms.

“If I sound defeated, I do kind of feel it,” she told the Assembly.

“However many months in, we still haven’t really spoken about the economy at all.”

Economic Development president Sasha Kazantseva-Miller disagreed, saying suggestions that economic growth was being ignored were a misrepresentation of what happens in the Assembly.

Members also heavily rejected Deputy Tina Bury’s proposal to examine wealth and asset-based taxes as future revenue-raising measures.

Goy-llotined

One of the biggest complaints the last time the States tried to debate GST and the rest of P&R’s proposals was the refusal to even debate Deputy David Goy’s PIT proposals, a very detailed set of alternatives to GST.

At the time Deputy Camp called the decision “disgraceful”, but anyone hoping the States had a change of heart over the summer break will have been sorely disappointed.

The ‘guillotine’ – refusing to debate amendments it deemed out of scope – was arguably wielded more freely on Wednesday than at any time since the French Revolution.

And that trend continued into Thursday, with a further four amendments killed before any democratic debate.

In fact, one deputy even tried to go further in silencing Deputy Goy, asking the States Greffier not to even read out his amendments – although the Bailiff quickly ruled that unconstitutional.

Several amendments from Deputy David Goy were ruled to be outside the scope of the debate before members voted not to debate them.

Among the proposals that never reached a full discussion were plans for a public tracker on States projects worth more than £1m, advance notice of consultancy contracts worth more than £100,000 and public disclosure of six-figure public sector recruitment and regrading decisions.

A separate amendment from Deputy Curgenven to freeze overseas aid was also guillotined.

Deputy Goy did manage to do one better than last time, having a whopping one of his amendments debated – before time ran out for the day.

Day two amendments at a glance

Here’s what was decided on Thursday. The full voting records are on the parliament.gg website.

Amendment	Proposer	Result	For	Against	Abstained	Summary
55	Gavin St Pier	✅ Carried	21	16	3	Creates a framework for GST to rise from 3% to 4% and potentially 5%, subject to conditions and reviews.
16	Marc Leadbeater	✅ Carried	28	11	1	Exempts food produced or grown by small independent suppliers from GST.
52	Haley Camp	✅ Carried	33	4	2	Prevents GST being introduced until associated tax changes, benefits and support measures are operating.
32	Tina Bury	✅ Carried	28	8	2	Excludes pensions, long-term care and income support spending from wider spending restraint measures.
30	Adrian Gabriel	✅ Carried	31	3	4	Allows transport taxes to proceed even if other parts of the package fall.
47	Rob Curgenven	✅ Carried	21	13	6	Prevents GST rising above its initial rate until a planned review and States savings targets have been met.
15	Alderney Representatives	✅ Carried	23	15	2	Protects Alderney Electricity Ltd and Alderney Water Board from irrecoverable GST costs.
13	Haley Camp	✅ Carried	33	1	6	Requires detailed reporting on States savings and efficiencies.
49	Haley Camp	❌ Lost	14	25	1	Would have required a formal economic growth plan.
28	Tina Bury	❌ Lost	9	27	4	Would have required future examination of wealth and asset-based taxes.
29	Andy Sloan	❌ Lost	9	29	2	Would have removed the Essential Cost Relief Payment.
7	Aidan Matthews	❌ Lost	15	24	1	Would have exempted all food and non-alcoholic drinks from GST.
40	David Goy	🪓Guillotined	21*	18*	–	Public tracker for States projects costing more than £1m.
41	David Goy	🪓Guillotined	22*	17*	–	Public notice of six-figure public sector appointments and regradings.
39	David Goy	🪓Guillotined	21*	17*	–	Public notice of consultancy contracts worth more than £100,000.
50	Rob Curgenven	🪓Guillotined	26*	13*	1*	Would have frozen Overseas Aid & Development Commission funding from 2029.
36	David Goy	Debate adjourned	–	–	–	Investigation of a minimum tax contribution from some wealthy future open market purchasers.

*Votes shown are on the procedural motion not to debate the amendment, rather than the amendment itself.