Guernsey politicians debate 2024 budget after calls for early confidence vote rejected

Deputy Yvonne Burford is calling for Policy & Resources' plan to borrow up to £200 million to be withdrawn.

Deputy Chris Le Tissier is calling for the proposed limit on how much tax Guernsey residents can pay to be abolished. Should that not be approved, he wants the limit to be "phased out" over five years from January 2025 with no new claims made from January 2024. As a last resort, he wants the limit to remain but be increased from January 2024.

Deputy Rob Prow is calling for Guernsey micro-breweries to be charged a lower rate of Excise Duty.

Deputy Peter Roffey wants to see the proposed tax rise on unoccupied properties come into effect after they have been vacant for 12 months. He also wanted to clarify the definition of "unoccupied" so it is clearly set out in law.

Deputy Gavin St Pier lodged a bid to overturn the Lieutenant-Governor's tax exemption, requiring the Royal Family's representative in the Bailiwick of Guernsey to pay income tax.

Deputy John Gollop is calling for the rate of income tax to be increased to 22% on earnings above £80,000 from January 2025. He also wants the Policy & Resources Committee to investigate the impact of increase the higher individual standard rate of income tax to 25%.

Deputy Victoria Oliver wants to make sure that properties which are unoccupied solely due to ongoing renovation work are not subject to the proposed increased tax. Similar to Amendment 4, lodged by Deputy Peter Roffey, she wants the criteria for "unoccupied" properties to be defined as 12 months.

Deputy Gavin St Pier has called for no further borrowing (beyond the hospital modernisation plan and any previous debt) unless there is a "secure income stream" to recoup general revenue.

Deputy Gavin St Pier has asked for spending on capital projects to be frozen, unless it was agreed by Deputies in a States meeting on 20 October 2023.

Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez is calling for current tax exemptions for company vehicles to be expanded to public transport or non-motorised vehicles from January 2024. If approved, bus passes, bikes, e-bikes, and mileage paid to employees using their own bikes for business use will become exempt from income tax.

Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez is calling for steps to be taken to avoid increasing bus fares in Guernsey. She is calling for the Environment & Infrastructure Committee to be given an extra £250,000 to its 2024 budget, and raise an extra £340,000 in general revenue by increasing First Registration Duty (the tax payable when new vehicles are imported into Guernsey).

Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen has proposed setting aside £111 million to complete the redevelopment of the post-16 campus at Les Ozouets, transforming Guernsey's secondary schools and the Guernsey Institute. The 'Transforming Education Plan' was previously proposed as part of the Funding and Investment Plan debate on 20 October 2023 but wasn't agreed upon.

Deputy David de Lisle has proposed changing Policy & Resources' planned Tax on Real Property tariffs with new ones limited to RPIX plus 7.5% (11.4% overall). The new proposed bands are:

• RPIX (3.9%) for properties with a TRP rating of less than 99

• RPIX (3.9%) + 2% for properties with a TRP rating of 100-149

• RPIX (3.9%) + 4% for properties with a TRP rating of 150-199

• RPIX (3.9%) + 7% for properties with a TRP rating of 200-299

• RPIX (3.9%) + 10% for properties with a TRP rating of 300-399

• RPIX (3.9%) + 15% for properties with a TRP rating of 400-499

• RPIX (3.9%) + 20% for properties with a TRP rating of over 500

Similar to Amendment 13, Deputy Peter Roffey has called for the new proposed Tax on Real Property tariffs with new ones capped at 12%. The new bands he proposed are:

• RPIX (3.9%) for properties with a TRP rating of less than 99

• RPIX (3.9%) + 3% for properties with a TRP rating of 100-149

• RPIX (3.9%) + 6% for properties with a TRP rating of 150-199

• RPIX (3.9%) + 8.1% for properties with a TRP rating of 200-299

• RPIX (3.9%) + 8.1% for properties with a TRP rating of 300-399

• RPIX (3.9%) + 8.1% for properties with a TRP rating of 400-499

• RPIX (3.9%) + 8.1% for properties with a TRP rating of over 500

The average increase would be 10.1%, which Deputy Roffey says is a real-terms increase of 6.2%.

Deputy John Dyke is calling for the current £90,000 income tax allowance threshold to be kept. The Policy & Resources Committee has proposed reducing it to £80,000, meaning anyone who earns between £80,000-90,000/year would have to pay more tax if approved.

The Policy and Resources Committee wanted to amend its own budget - similar to amendments from Deputies Oliver and Roffey - defining the criteria for "unoccupied" properties as empty for at least 12 months, or 18 months at the end of the tax year.