Few Guernsey States members back income tax hike

More than a third of Guernsey's States members have said they will vote against plans to increase income tax.

The island's Policy and Resources (P&R) Committee has proposed a temporary 2p in the pound increase to income tax as the main measure of its budget for 2025.

BBC Guernsey contacted all 40 States members, 15 said they would vote against the scheme, only six were committed to voting it.

P&R President Deputy Lyndon Trott said he has "every confidence the States will make the right decision for the short and medium-term future of the island".

BBC Guernsey asked members for their views on some of the proposed amendments to the budget, which will be discussed at the States meeting starting on 5 November.

These included whether they would support P&R's income tax plans, Deputy Peter Roffey's proposals for a package including a 5% Goods and Service Tax (GST) or Deputy Mark Helyar's austerity proposals.

The majority, 16 members, were yet to make a firm decision. Two members are expected to be off-island for the vote and one did not respond.

Thirteen deputies said they will support Mr Roffey's plans, which include lower income tax rates and social security reform.

Education, Sport and Culture (ESC) President Andrea Dudley-Owen labelled his GST package as "far fairer and strategically better long-term for the island".

Mr Helyar's plans to freeze States budgets next year have the support of five States members, with 18 indicating they will vote against his proposal.

Deputy Charles Parkinson and Deputy Liam McKenna have paid for an advert on Facebook urging States members to vote against plans to increase income tax and introduce a GST.

Mr Parkinson has proposed changes to Guernsey's corporate tax system and is being supported by Mr McKenna, who is seconding that proposal.

He said: "I’m not saying it’s the worst budget in history, but it is definitely in the top one."

One member who said she was undecided about how she would vote on all three amendments was Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, who alongside Deputy Dave Mahoney has sent a dossier to States members looking at the impact of P&R's proposals and Roffey's tax reform scheme.

"It is clear from this analysis that an income tax-led package would make most households worse off," she said.

"While the impact could be somewhat mitigated for lower-income households with the restructure of Social Security contributions, most households would still be better off under the GST package."

Four members, including Deputy Simon Vermeulen and Health and Social Care President Deputy Al Brouard, indicated they "could" support P&R's plans but wanted to listen to the debate first.

ESC member Andy Cameron said he would not support any of the main proposals for tax increases or spending cuts.

He said before taxes are increased more work needs to be done on funding savings through digital transformation.

Both of the Alderney representatives told the BBC they were undecided on whether they would support any of the proposals in the budget and would listen to the debate.

Last year they backed the former P&R committee's GST package.

In 2023, when deputies last debated reforming the island's tax system, a proposal to raise income tax was rejected by 30 votes to 10.

Plans to introduce a GST were also defeated by 25 votes to 15.

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