Jersey's government has rejected a petition calling for the removal of the island's 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on food, saying scrapping the levy would require raising other taxes to maintain public services.
The petition, which gathered about 1,500 signatures, urged ministers to abolish GST on food to ease the cost-of-living pressures facing islanders. Treasury and Resources Minister Deputy Elaine Miller said the government preferred targeted measures such as income support and personal tax allowances to help lower-income households rather than broad changes to GST.
"Jersey's low rate of GST on all goods and services, combined with generous personal income tax allowance and income-related benefits, keeps money in Islanders' pockets and leaves spending choices to them," Miller said. She added that to "balance the books and so maintain public services, lowering the GST rate on foodstuffs could mean raising the rate on other goods and services."
Miller cited analysis by the Treasury indicating that eliminating GST on food would require the GST rate on non-food goods and services to rise by roughly one percentage point, to about 6%, in order to recover the lost revenue. The government said that outcome could offset any benefits from removing the tax on food for many households.
Statistics Jersey reported that the cost of food on the island rose by 4.1% in the 12 months to June 2025, underscoring concerns about affordability that prompted the petition. The government pointed to its existing package of support — including income-related benefits and personal tax allowances — as the preferred mechanism for helping those most affected by price increases.
The GST in Jersey applies to the majority of goods and services at a single rate. Ministers said maintaining a relatively low, broad-based consumption tax alongside targeted welfare and tax measures preserves revenue streams needed to fund public services while allowing individual households to make spending choices.
The petition renewed public debate about how best to respond to rising living costs. Ministers maintained that changes to the GST regime would have trade-offs that could shift costs to other sectors or require cuts to public provision if revenue were not replaced. The government did not set out any timetable for further review but reiterated its focus on direct financial support for vulnerable households and on monitoring price movements and fiscal outcomes.