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The States will reconvene on the 15 February to debate the Tax Review proposals with a chance that more amendments could be lodged to refine the plans in the meantime.
Efforts to replace the Policy and Resources Tax Review plans with the so-called Fairer Alternative proposed by Deputy Heidi Soulsby and new corporate taxes proposed by Deputy Charles Parkinson both failed today.
Deputy Carl Meerveld, with the backing of Deputy Simon Vermeulen, asked the States to back his plan to strip GST from P&R's plans, to cut spending and to review the size and make up of Guernsey's government to see where savings can be made. That also failed.
Deputies Sasha Kazantseva-Miller and Peter Roffey were quick to pour scorn on Deputy Meeveld's proposals before the debate was guillotined.
Deputy Kazantseva-Miller said if this amendment was considered a lifeboat then it's a lifeboat to Timbuktu.
Both she and Deputy Roffey pointed out that by removing GST from P&R's proposals without any other form of revenue raising being proposed, then it would mean tens of millions of pounds worth of service cuts will have to be implemented.
Pictured: Deputy Peter Roffey entering this week's States meeting.
Deputy Roffey said "walking out of here having achieved nothing is one thing, walking out here having instructed P&R to cut 60 million pounds of public spending which is the inevitably outcome, oh no - we can vote against it, in which case we'll practically have nothing, in which case what's the point in the amendment? But the only alternative it offers is cutting out 60 million pounds in public spending.
"If members really want to do that then I'm going to organise the protest march for next time around because, well...it would take maybe a few months for the penny to drop about what that's really going mean to the people of Guernsey.
"This is not just a flawed amendment, it is so cack handed is really unbelievable."
An effort to guillotine debate by Deputy Gavin St Pier failed, but Deputy Andy Taylor was successful shortly afterwards.
How they voted
For: Chris Bline, David De Lisle, John Dyke, John Gollop, Sam Haskins, Chris Le Tissier, Aidan Matthews, Liam McKenna, Carl Meerveld, Lester Queripel, Simon Vermeulen. 11
Against: Sue Aldwell, Al Brouard, Yvonne Burford, Tina Bury, Andy Cameron, Lindsay De Saumarez, Andrea Dudley-Owen, Simon Fairclough, Steve Falla, Adrian Gabriel, Neil Inder, Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, Jonathan Le Tocq, Marc Leadbeater, Nick Moakes, Bob Murray, Victoria Oliver, Charles Parkinson, Rob Prow, Steve Roberts, Peter Roffey, Alexander Snowdon, Heidi Soulsby, Gavin St Pier, Andy Taylor, Lyndon Trott. 26
Did not vote: Peter Ferbrache, Mark Helyar, David Mahoney.3
Following the loss of this amendment, the States agreed to adjourn debate on the Tax Review until Tuesday 15 February.
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