Watch your prices, companies warned

Friday 2nd May 2008, 12:00AM BST.

ISLAND businesses have been warned not to use GST as a chance to rip off customers.

The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority has released a message to both consumers and retailers that although businesses are entitled to raise prices to account for GST, it is not an excuse to inflate prices artificially.

JCRA executive director Chuck Webb said that they were issuing the advice for businesses and customers before the three per cent tax is introduced on 6 May.

‘We are telling consumers what to watch out for,’ he said. ‘Businesses are allowed to increase their prices to account for their costs of implementing GST, but this is not a licence for them to rip off customers by raising prices well above the tax.’

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