Fellow Anguillians,
On Monday 20th September 2021, the Honourable Premier and Leader of Government business, Dr. Lorenzo Webster, took the opportunity during the Government Press Conference, at 2:00 pm, to address statements made, by myself and other members of the Loyal Opposition in the Anguilla House of Assembly, on our talk show “Just the Facts” which airs every Monday at 12 Noon on Radio Anguilla.
The essence of the Honourable Premier’s statements surrounded our comments about the infamous manner in which the Goods and Services Tax was passed in the Anguilla House of Assembly, as well as our views on the way in which the GST is being progressed. To quote his words, “…So when you have the Leader of the Opposition who is now the Leader of the Anguilla United Front and her, uhm, other opposition persons who can get into the House and get out on the radio and talk about that they would not have implemented the Goods and Services Tax, I mean it is ignorance, and I want you to put that in the paper. Because, you know, they make it seem like they had a choice. Or that we have a choice. We did not have a choice…”
Let me first give you a brief history on the progression of the GST tax in Anguilla:
1- On 31st October 2011, the Anguilla United Movement Government in Executive Council mandated the Tax Reform Working Group to take the GST implementation process forward with a completion date not to exceed 31st December 2014. At the time, the now Minister of Infrastructure was a part of the said Executive Council Meeting and the Tax Reform Working Group was led by the Honourable Mr. Jerome Roberts, the then Advisor to the then Chief Minister.
2- You will recall that the Anguilla United Front Government in 2015 met our two indigenous banks under ECCB conservatorship from 2013. One of the first issues that had to be addressed was the banking resolution, which took place in 2016.
3- In 2017, Hurricane Irma hit our shores and the Anguilla United Front delayed implementation of the GST until 2019.
4- During the Budget Address in 2019, the then Premier, the Honourable Mr. Victor Banks, explained to the general public that the GST would be staggered in three (3) phases:
(i) Phase 1 was the Interim Goods Tax which was passed in 2019 (two years after Hurricane Irma).
(ii) Phase 2 would have been a partial Services Tax covering accommodation, electricity, communications and wholesalers by 1st January 2021.
(iii) Phase 3 would have been the expansion of the Services tax to cover all other services by 1st January 2023.
5- There were 3 main reasons for the staggered phasing of the GST: (1) Anguilla, at the time, would have been the smallest country to implement GST; (2) because of its small size, we were not sure whether the GST would have benefitted or harmed the country, and so time was needed to assess whether the country could withstand full implementation by introducing the GST in stages; and (3) most importantly, the country was still in recovery mode from Hurricane Irma – businesses were slowly rebounding, reconstruction was still taking place and Anguilla had still not recovered from the worldwide economic downturn.
6- The plan was that the GST was to have been accomplished in a slow and deliberate manner so as to be able to properly assess and manage the impact of the various phases of the GST and change course, if necessary.
I was surprised to hear the Honourable Premier advise the public that government cannot be run from the streets, because that is exactly the impression they gave the electorate during the 2020 general elections. The Premier and the other APM candidates knew that the country was in a difficult financial situation, but they told the people of Anguilla they had a plan to fix it. And that plan did not include the GST. In fact, they convinced the people of Anguilla that if they were elected, Anguilla would indeed be transformed into a land of milk and honey. They spoke glowingly about all of the things they would accomplish once elected – including affordable health care for all and free healthcare for persons over 70 years old, and for revolutionary heroes; educating our young people and providing assistance for young entrepreneurs; not taking the EC$100,000,000.00 from the UK Government which was agreed to by former Premier Banks; and most importantly, not implementing the GST.
Somehow the APM seems to have not appreciated and was indeed ignorant of the fact that Anguilla’s financial situation was under stress as a result of the worldwide economic downturn in 2007/2008, the banking crisis in 2013, the banking resolution in 2016, Hurricane Irma in 2017 and the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
So when I now hear the Honourable Premier say, during the press conference, “We did not understand the gravity of the financial situation at the time”, and that they had no choice but to approve the GST, I am truly disappointed. The members of this APM Government campaigned on the fact that this country was in financial difficulties but they had a plan to make life better. I must now ask the question, where is this plan? Where is the economic plan to move Anguilla forward?
For clarification, the issue for us, as members of the Anguilla United Front, is not whether this APM Government had to approve the GST. The issue is (1) the manner in which the GST was approved in the House of Assembly, and (2) the manner in which this Government collapsed the staggered approach that should have been taken with respect to the GST implementation. The effect of this is that the people of Anguilla would now be overly burdened with a new and significant tax which is to be imposed less than ten (10) months away, and there is no sign of relief by our Government to ease the pressure on our people.
This is, of course, in the face of all of the new and significant taxes that have already been imposed on the people of Anguilla over the last year – the increase in health fees; the increase in electricity, and gas at the pumps; the increase in AASPA fees; and the increase in water rates, just to name a few.
Contrary to the statements made by the Honourable Premier, consultations had taken place with the implementation of the Interim Goods Tax, and consultations would have taken place with each of the other two phases of the GST. I would go further and say, that in the same way that the GST was first delayed and then phased under the Anguilla United Front Government, because of the situation in Anguilla at that time, similar discussions and negotiations with the UK Government would have taken place in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic had the Anguilla United Front been in office today.
More importantly, the fact that two of the Ministers of Government voted against the GST on 29th July 2021 highlighted (1) that they shared similar views to the members of the Opposition in the Anguilla House of Assembly in relation to the impact of the GST on our people at this time, and (2) the need for this Government to reconsider its position in implementing the GST in the midst of this pandemic – and not subject our people to even greater hardship under this APM regime.
What the people of Anguilla need to know is that every decision has a consequence. I heard the Honourable Premier, in his press conference, praise his Government’s decision to not sell the Government shares in Anglec. However, the most open and honest statement made by the Honourable Premier on this issue was in the House of Assembly on the eve of the passage of the GST.
The Member for Valley North, Mr. Evan McNeil Rogers, had asked the Premier to explain why it was necessary to push the GST through at this time. Part of the Honourable Premier’s response was to state that one of the promises they had made, coming into office, was that they would not sell the government shares in Anglec. He stated that 40% was to be sold by the former administration to pay debt, and that it was one of the conditions of the CDB loan.
However, for the APM to fulfill their campaign promise not to sell the government shares in Anglec, the Premier stated that “CDB decided that we had to change the conditions in the policies to get that loan again and since the British is one of the payers into the CDB, they said to do that we had to advance GST legislation 2nd and 3rd reading by 31st of July.” The Honourable Premier further stated that if the GST was not passed before 29th July 2021, “public servant salaries would be cut by 30%” and that he could not in good conscience allow their salaries to be cut. These were the two main reasons given for the passage of the GST on 29th July 2021.
Fellow Anguillians, fifteen (15) months on, it is high time this APM Administration stop blaming the talk shows, stop blaming Anguillians who are voicing their opinions, stop blaming the previous administration and stop blaming the members of the opposition for their failures to date. What is needed at this time is for serious deliberations and actions to generate economic activity, get our people back to work, create a climate conducive for the creation of new businesses, and prevent the closure of existing businesses.
We need our Government to get on with the work of the country for the benefit of the people of Anguilla. Part of our role as loyal members of the Opposition in the Anguilla House of Assembly is to hold our government accountable for decisions taken which impact our beloved country. We have, and we will continue, to work in the best interests of our people.
God Bless You and God Bless Anguilla
Cora Richardson Hodge
Leader of the Opposition in the Anguilla House of Assembly
Leader of the Anguilla United Front Party
