The Government and people of Anguilla are talking about the recent resignation of Minister Kyle Hodge from his Ministerial post within the current APM administration.
While many persons laud the action as a “matter of conscience”, there is much conversation as to whether Mr Hodge has betrayed his Party affiliation by standing in solidarity with the business community to which he has strong commitments – and with the people who elected him to office.
Speaking on the radio programme, “To The Point”, Mr Hodge stated that the record of facts is out there to show how he has always felt about the controversial Goods and Services Tax (GST) slated for implementation on Friday, July 1, 2022.
“I haven’t betrayed the [APM] Party, because I haven’t changed. I was against GST before election [and] I remained against GST when I voted no [to its implementation in the House of Assembly]. I decided that, during the Budget Debate process, the Budget was important for the running of the country. GST was included in that Budget as a line item, so I supported the Budget and ended up supporting the GST.
“When I supported the Budget, I cautioned [the Government and the IRD] to meet with the business community to make the right adjustments that would make this tax work – if it could work.”
Mr Hodge compared Anguilla’s business community’s reaction to the impending GST implementation to that of the business community in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) when they were faced with a similar situation.
“It is exactly what took place in TCI. The business community could not understand that tax – it was too cumbersome. They felt like it was a tax that would destroy the way how they did things. They rose up and went to their politicians and complained. They met with their leaders, both in the Government and the Opposition, who all voted no to their Goods and Services Tax.”
Mr Hodge noted that “we have seen where it (GST) was tried in other countries and they decided to go against it. We are at a point in Anguilla where once you have such huge dissent on a Bill, it is necessary to look at it again, to put a pause on it and get people to come on board. Anguilla is too small for the private and public sectors not to work in conjunction with each other.”
Ex-minister Hodge had some advice for the government, and Premier Webster in particular, to move past the current “stalemate”.
“We need to make the case to the British Government that over 2,000 people signed a petition in less than seven days; over 65 businesses – retail only – got together to write letters about the issues they are having now. The Evangelical Association is in fear. The restaurant sector is in fear. The GST Committee in the House of Assembly interviewed every sector of this economy, and they all had many issues with this tax. Everybody can’t be wrong.
“Take a pause. We have obligations to the international community, financial obligations to the CDB, and financial obligations to the UK, but we can still put together a temporary tax plan that is simple. We need to do some tweaking to the existing taxes – that are already in place – to hold the strain as it relates to revenue collection…and keep our expenditure in control.
“Instead of butting heads and fighting – where there are no winners amongst the people we all lose. Listen to the business community. Take another look [at the GST Bill]. The cries and the struggle [of the people and the business community] are real.”
All Anguillians wait to see how things unfold on July 1st.
