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Businesses revolt over goods tax proposal

Business owners in Alderney said the higher costs and extra paperwork connected to introducing a Bailiwick-wide sales tax could compel them to close.

They were commenting after it emerged that as part of the review into tax, pensions and benefits, a five per cent goods and services tax from 2019 was being proposed.

The paper tabled a proposal that the implications of "introducing a broad based consumption tax" be investigated and that the Treasury put the results before the States by June 2019.

Alderney business owners said imposing such a tax would be unfair to Alderney.

Liz Hope, owner of Shirley's, said: "I think in Alderney we would find that a lot of businesses might have to close. We are already struggling with TRP. We just don't have the footfall for it. I personally think if they brought that in I would re-consider whether it was worth staying open. It wouldn't be just the extra cost but all the paperwork." Jo Boughton-Leigh, owner of Anchors, echoed her sentiments. "A goods tax would be absolutely disastrous for Alderney businesses. The economy here is already deprived - income is practically non-existent. If it was introduced while I was carrying on here I would give up."

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