Happy 2023! It’s the perfect time to compare resolutions and campaign promises! You know. While resolutions are promises we make to ourselves to change for the better in the coming year, campaign promises are made to the People to make things better for everyone in the coming term of office.
Resolutions and Promises for Health and Wealth
Many resolutions highlight one’s health, such as abstaining from alcohol with “Dry January” or forgoing fattening foods, and exercising more, so the scale shows less. Whereas, campaign promises often focus on community wellbeing, such as lowering taxes, crime prevention, or to “curb spending” – the government equivalent of dieting.
Precedents from US Presidents: Clinton Put the Budget on a Budget
When first running for president, Bill Clinton promised to “halve the annual federal budget deficit in four years …” An audacious aspiration, by any measure.
But, he did it! A budget deficit reduction act was signed on August 10, 1993. The deficit was ultimately reduced by more than half from $290 to $117 billion and from 4.9% in 1992 to 2.3% by 1995, dropping for 4 consecutive years.1
A Tax “Amuse-Bouche” by George H. W. Bush
In his campaign, the first President Bush gave the voters a taste of his policies by promising, “Read my lips. No new taxes.” That helped ensure his election, but he betrayed the voters within his first year after failing to manage government spending. Many believe that his broken promise cost him a second term, despite remarkable success with the 42-day ousting of Iraqi forces from their invasion of Kuwait in the military operation known as “Desert Storm.”2
The Trump Tax Ruse that Amused Only the Rich
In addition to promising that Mexico would pay for a border wall, Donald Trump campaigned with a promise to cut most everyone’s taxes: “…and that the super-rich like him would pay more.” But most everyone was left behind. “By 2027, the richest 1 percent will have received 83 percent of the Trump tax cut and the richest 0.1 percent, 60 percent of it. But more than half of all Americans will pay more in taxes,” as reported by Robert Reich, who served in the Clinton Administration.3
Hmm. Tax breaks for only the wealthy sounds familiar, like the farce that wilted the Tory glory of Liz Truss faster than a head of lettuce. Not to mention, APM GST tax cuts for only the owners and investors in our hospitality sector. But, first, the AUF lit the way for the boat to win the day!
The AUF Tantalizing, Tortured Tax Promise
In the previous administration here in Anguilla, the AUF manifesto promised to “Provide relief from the Interim Stabilization Levy and other taxes, which have hurt workers and businesses and depressed commerce, since 2010.”4 After such promises helped them win, the AUF inherited an annual Recurrent Budget of less than $190 Million in 2015. That meant a tax burden for the People of about $16 Million per month, paid mainly as Customs duties and fees buried deep in prices for most everything by then.
The AUF not only broke their tax promise and kept the Interim Stabilization Levy, but they hiked property taxes to breathtaking heights. In fact, they raised overall taxes nearly 20% in an economy where wages were flat, employment seasonal, and tourism had barely recovered from Hurricane Irma only 2 years earlier, when… the AUF began imposing GST with the Interim Goods Tax in 2019!
A broken tax promise, proceeding with GST, and endless spending pushed the AUF out in the last election – after they pushed the recurrent budget up to $226 million. They added $3 million more per month to the tax burden – or some $36 Million per year in their last term, alone!
But remember, AUF tax habits run deep! Looking back to their previous tenure from 2000 to 2009, the AUF ravaged the economy, taxing the People millions more per month, ramping up the recurrent budget from about $65 to over $200 Million per year. All told, the AUF snatched $15 Million more per month from the People’s purse – while howling to the Heavens that the taxpayers were increasingly delinquent over time.
Quick quiz: Any guesses why? Extra credit: How many college educations, houses, cars, new businesses and dreams were taken from the People and their children by the AUF government taxing billions from everything they would earn, eat, buy, or need – long before GST?
And then, the APM Promise to Adopt Alternatives to GST…
The People voted for Change after having none left in their pockets…and then, they got short-changed! That is, with abrupt abandonment of the APM campaign promise to adopt alternatives to GST – and curb spending. Once passed by the unelected AG and DG, overriding votes of two elected members, the risks of countless, severe civil and criminal penalties, bureaucratic burdens, and lost hope of competitive pricing have ended commerce – and possibly tourism – in Anguilla as they once were known.
After another year of enriching the government by impoverishing the People, they are celebrating how GST forced the People to fund their new operating budget of, ta dah – $246 Million – excluding capital for infrastructure! Over $20 Million per month and poised to take more from the People than any administration, ever! Wow.
For Real Change, We Must Resolve to Change Our Beliefs!
We saw how broken tax promises worked out for the Bush and AUF administrations. But unless the British and DG do the right thing to restructure a sustainable government, we can also see how choosing between the AUF and APM has worked out for us: the Government wins and the People lose!
And… we now see tourists feeling “taken” when dining at our tables… or those who can, resolve to leave for the US or UK, forced to flee to feed their families; while we watch others without such means resolve to leave, if only for a long, hot day to shop in Sint Maarten in search of affordable food.
So instead of wondering which campaign promises lie ahead perhaps with new lies, let us resolve to Change what we believe we deserve – for the People, as well as for those paid to serve: To repeal GST, balance the budget, and fulfill the promise for a new way forward with the British and the banks!
Repeal GST. Now.
This article reflects cultural and economic issues raised on July 5, 2021, at the House Select Committee on GST Public Hearing. 1https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/33316 (p. 5 Campaign Promises); 2https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/persian-gulf-war; 3https://prospect.org/politics/trumps-40-biggest-broken-promises/; 4http://www.caribbeanelections.com/eDocs/manifestos/ai/AUF_Manifesto_2015.pdf; 5Government of Anguilla Budget 2023. [Reminder: Amuse bouche (ah-mews boosh) ~ a small starter dish to whet the appetite.]
