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Scrutineers have called for more “transparency” about the Government’s GST discussions with online retail giants like Amazon after the Treasury refused to disclose any correspondence.
The complaint from a sub-group of the Corporate Affairs Scrutiny Panel – led by Senator Steve Pallett – comes ahead of a vote as part of the Government Plan debate, that could see the GST ‘de minimis’ lowered from £135 to £60.
If the proposal passes, all goods imported into the Island of a value of £60 or above will be liable for GST from 1 January 2023.
Senator Pallett’s panel was tasked with reviewing the proposal, and published a report last week.
It said that the panel were concerned that Revenue Jersey had not provided enough data to justify the de minimis reduction, and raised concerns about what impact the changes could have on low-income families who might rely on online shopping to source the best deals for household goods.
Pictured: Treasury and Resources Minister Deputy Susie Pinel first lowered the de minimis last year, down to £135 - a new proposition as part of the Government Plan could see it go down to £60.
The report read: "Revenue Jersey did engage with some of the larger offshore retailers (including Amazon) whilst gathering evidence for its GST Personal Importation review and has reported its interpretation of the outcome of this engagement in its report, but the direct detail has remained confidential and has not been shared with scrutiny or stakeholders to enable justification of key decisions."
The Scrutiny Panel were not the only ones who expressed their concern about this.
"The Jersey Consumer Council expressed concern that the Government of Jersey had not provided the necessary level of clarity to consumers and identified that the list of top 10 offshore retailers developed by Revenue Jersey needed oversight to understand the potential impacts to customers," the report noted.
Express had previously requested information about the top 10 retailers under the Freedom of Information Law from Government, but the request was declined for 'commercial sensitivity' reasons.
On the impact on lower income families, the report again quoted the Consumer Council, which described GST as a "regressive tax that impacts poorer Islanders the most."
The Scrutiny Panel noted: "...In this regard, that the Community Cost Bonus, which is an annual payment to help households that are just above the income support level with the cost of GST, had not been considered [by Revenue Jersey] as a mechanism to support the less well-off under changes to the de minimis."
Pictured: Senator Steve Pallett chaired the Scrutiny sub-group tasked with investigating the GST change impact.
In their conclusions, the panel said that "there is an opportunity for greater transparency of the data used to justify the decisions made" and urged Revenue Jersey to consider the impact on low-income families or on the Community Cost Bonus before any changes take effect.
Senator Pallett commented after the publication of his panel's report: “GST has been an emotive issue for Islanders since its introduction in 2007. After closely examined the consequences that these latest changes to GST might have on the public and organisations, we are particularly concerned about the lack of reliable data to justify a change that is likely to disproportionally affect lower income households. We hope that that, ahead of the Government Plan debate, our report will inform States Members of the issues and risks associated with changing the de minimis level as well as the potential benefit to Treasury.”
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