The Goods and Services Tax (GST) appears, for the time being, to be an endless matter of discussion and controversy in Anguilla – but it will eventually come to an end in one form or another.
Some persons are saying that the UK Government will either ignore the beehive of noise being made over the tax and enforce it as planned in July 2022; or, if sympathetic enough, somehow find a way of softening its impact on taxpayers through tactful amendments at least.
The APM Government of Anguilla maintains that the UK Government advised them that the GST was already cast in stone – so to speak – having been previously agreed to by the AUF Government as a trade-off for budgetary and other financial aid. On the other hand, while agreeing that the GST started under the AUF Government, the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Cora Richardson Hodge, is of the view that taking into account COVID-19 and its impact on the economy, and the lives of the people, that steps could have been taken by the APM Government to pursue alternative ways of revenue than the GST. In other words, the APM could have tried “to think outside the box”.
The Opposition Leader was at the time speaking during the AUF’s Radio Anguilla programme, Just the Facts, on Monday, September 20, 2021. She was accompanied by her colleague and co-host, Mr. Cardigan Connor.
“At the end of the day, it is the Government of the day that would have ultimately taken the GST to the House and ultimately sought its approval,” the Opposition Leader, Mrs. Richardson-Hodge, stated.
“I suppose that what the general public was instead looking for would have been for this [APM] Government to think outside the box. In this space and time, dealing with a world-wide pandemic etc., how do you manoeuvre, how do you continue to keep the country running? What measures could you put in place that would not be so onerous on the people so as to allow a quick recovery? And, at that point you [could have] considered implementing…the GST in an extended manner etc. I think that is probably the biggest criticism – the failure of the Government to think outside the box and to identify ways in which they could achieve the continuation of economic activity – or some sort of economic income into the country. At the same time [they could] have discussions with the British Government that GST will come, if at all, but certainly not be in place in one year’s time.”
The Opposition Leader further stated: “We are now in September, and almost in October, and you have this deadline of July 2022 hanging over you – and we are still dealing and coping with COVID. Although we would love to see the back of it, we have not…,and the time frame for the implementation of the GST is looming over us. So what do you do? Do you go ahead…. and make amendments to ease the burden and try to create economic activity at the right time? These are critical questions that this Government has to answer.”
Mr. Cardigan Connor noted that the Concerned Citizens had written to Lord Ahmad, the Minister of State at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab, the former Secretary of State, asking for the disallowance of the GST. “I totally agree with you, Cora,” he replied. “I see it as the Concerned Citizens probably doing the job of Government by reaching out to the powers that be. If you ask Government they would say they were pressured into it by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in order to balance budgets and the like. But I think it is important to understand, as I said, that we all appreciate that in order to pay, you must be in a position to earn. However, right now a number of persons are struggling …”
Both comments by the Opposition Parliamentarians infuriated the Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster. Speaking later in the day (Monday, September 20), during the Government’s Press Conference, the usually calm Leader of Government Business, commented: “The Leader of the Opposition, who is now the Leader of the Anguilla United Front, and her other opposition person, 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 [The Anguillian newspaper]. You know they make it seems like they had a choice – or like we had a choice. We did not have a choice.
“I have a letter from Lord Ahmad that basically thanked us for continuing the commitments that were previously made. And this is the type of thing that irritates me about politics because we have people we have to lead. They put us here; they put their trust in us and say ‘we feel that you are the best eleven persons who can represent us during this time. We understand times are difficult. But decisions are to be made’. Certainly, we did not want to bring in the GST. We said that. But certainly we did not understand the gravity of the financial situation in Anguilla at the time.”
The irate Premier continued: “They talk as if they had a better plan, and that if they had been re-elected Anguilla would be a land flowing with milk and honey. The reality of this is – and it is a fact – because I have seen the policy matrix and they would have implemented the Goods and Services Tax, and there would have been no question; there would have been no discussion; there would not have been any public consultation. The second phase would have been implemented on the first of January, 2021; and the third phase would have been implemented on January 1, 2023; and the Goods and Services Tax would have been in full effect…We asked and were given some reprieve because we felt we needed to understand the implication of the Goods and Services Tax before we signed on to it. We were able to make significant changes that would improve the lives of the people of Anguilla, compared with the legislation that we met and would have gone into effect.”
The Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Haydn Hughes, without going into detail, simply remarked: “The Premier spoke for me.”
(Elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian newspaper is a reply to the Premier’s remarks from the Leader of the Opposition.)
The Premier’s statement was followed by some similar strong remarks from the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Kenneth Hodge.
“We are basically mopping up the mess that we have met and we are making it better,” he commented. “We are of the opinion that better days lie ahead. But the steps that we have been taking with the Statutory Bodies, and all the different things we have been doing, were things that should have been put in place a very long time ago – and I am fully committed to this administration. As the Premier said, in 2025, if it is the will of the people that they choose not to return us to office, so be it. But I am going to continue to work in this administration, making the difficult decisions that I was elected to do for the good of this country. I stand 150 percent behind the Premier and other members of this administration. We are here to do a job and I think the people of Anguilla need to allow us to do the job we were elected to do.
“I am bold to say that a lot of it is foolish rhetoric…It does not help our economy, and it does not help confidence in this country. And I think some of these persons need to check themselves and realise the reality at where we are at.
“We are living in a very fragile time. COVID is dominating everything we do, and I think persons need to give this Government an opportunity to do what it was elected to office to do – to govern and move this country forward.”
Meanwhile, The Anguillian newspaper took the opportunity, at the Press Conference, to ask Premier Webster whether there was any recourse whereby the British Government could rescind the Goods and Services Tax based on the letter from the Concerned Citizens.
“I think constitutionally, the Secretary of State can repeal any Act passed in the Anguilla House of Assembly but that will be determined there [at the Foreign Office]. I have no way of knowing how they will respond to that. In fact, Mr. Dominic Raab, who was the Foreign Secretary, is no longer in that position. Liz Truss is now the Minister for Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs. I know that it [the letter] was received based on the email chain I have seen, so I am sure that a response will come one way or the other.”
The Premier went on: “I just wanted to also say that education, in terms of businesses being able to access information on the GST implementation, is coming along. There will be seminars on that. Specific businesses or groups of businesses, or specific sectors, can also reach out to the Inland Revenue Department. They have been instructing businessowners how to get themselves ready for the implementation of the GST on the first of July 2022.”
In another matter related to the Goods and Service Tax, The Anguillian newspaper asked Premier Webster for his thoughts concerning the two Cabinet Ministers who voted against the GST.
He replied: “Yes, two of my Ministers voted in a crisis of conscience against the GST. I still feel that they are capable; that they still represent what the people saw in them; that they can do the job to keep Anguilla going; and they have my support. We will continue to work together as a team to move Anguilla forward.”
Minister of Social Development and Education, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, commented: “I would have been one of those Ministers who voted [no] in the House. We have stated on a number of occasions that everyone in these rows, sitting across of this table, has a decision to take and a decision to make. And we will be looking for information, balancing the risks and trying to make the best decision for the country. And ultimately, I think that if we are to be mature about it, we have to look at the decisions that have been made – and we have to make the decision we believe is the best decision for the country.
“This administration made a decision – the Bill was passed through the House. We know that there are a lot of communications going back and forth from the Concerned Citizens, and other persons, and the Secretary of State. We have a responsibility to see what the response is, but ultimately those things are not in our hands. Those are things that we have to wait on for a response, so ultimately I think, at this point, we have to continue to chart a way forward for the country; continue to allow the citizens of Anguilla to see us working – and for them to say this administration is working in the best interest of the country. This is what I believe.”
Meanwhile, Mr Kyle Hodge, the other Minister, who did not vote for the GST, was not in the House of Assembly at the time. He was attending and supporting the launching of Deep Faith, a fishing trawler, owned by the Fabian Brothers, at Island Harbour Bay.
