Any individual interested in taking a peek at a chicken’s beak might, themselves, be considered “as rare as hen’s teeth” – but the observation that hens don’t have teeth is the point. Believed to have originated in the US in the mid-1800s, the expression is used to describe most anything as so scarce that it would be as unlikely to exist as hen’s teeth.1
Are Repealed Laws Really as Rare as Hen’s Teeth?
Before we put repealed laws in the same nest with mythical unicorns, leprechauns – or even tooth fairies, not so long ago, scientists upended what we thought we knew about hen’s teeth. While believed to have gone the way of toothed birds that became extinct during the Cretaceous period some 70 million years ago, they discovered that dormant chicken DNA can still generate tooth enamel in the laboratory!2 Could that mean our leaders could also find teeth in their resolve to do the right thing and demand repeal of laws crushing our economy like primordial jaws?
Canadians Can – Repeal Laws, Lots of Them!
Notably, between 1985 and 2021, the Canadian Department of Justice repealed and removed 329 acts from the Table of Public Statutes – including 3 Customs laws. From A to almost Z, they repealed the Advance Payment for Crops to Fish and Meat Inspection Acts, to the Yukon Waters Act, proving that dormant laws can be repealed!3
Ending Early English Enactments!
While not as many over many more years from early English edicts to laws for Brexiting the EU, even British bureaucrats banished 151 acts of Parliament – from Abandonment of Animals to the Yeomancy and Volunteers Act of 1802, also only making it from A to Y.4 Going back further, another 69 acts of Parliament were repealed while our sovereign was technically Great Britain, spanning 1707 to 1801.5 And, perhaps the earliest repealed English law was the Vagabonds Act of 1383, which was one of 17 repealed laws that were enacted prior to 1700.6
Americans Canned Acts of Congress – and a Constitutional Amendment!
Examples of repealed laws in our hemisphere abound, with dozens of them repealed in the US, including the 18th Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibited production, transport and sale of alcohol (it was repealed by another amendment, thereafter).7 Fortunately, the US has repealed laws controlling everything from who could do what, to what they could drink, to who they could marry, how they governed the banks, and ones addressing aliens of both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial origin! (Yes, really. That last one was repealed in 1977.)
Antigua Also Axed an Array of Acts!
Closer to home, there are 7 recently repealed laws in Antigua – none of which was more antiquated than 1992! Two of the most recent included repeal of a Passenger Facility Charge – and Embarkation Tax laws from 2012.8 Look! A tax law was repealed by one of our closest neighbours also burdened with a history of British bureaucracy.
And…Anguilla Repealed Tax Laws – and Countless Regulations!
In fact, it recently only took one sentence and a simple list for Anguilla to repeal 5 tax laws with one vote at one sitting of the Honourable House of Assembly: “The Acts specified in Schedule 5 and any regulations made thereunder are hereby repealed…”9
While many may recall many hours of squawking in the House before that vote, these tax laws were repealed within seconds – as long as it took for 11 elected ministers (and 2 unelected appointees) to say “Aye” or “Nay” aloud. They proved that repealed tax laws are not as rare as hen’s teeth. Not here!
Which ones? Schedule 5 is equally clear, where it lists the: Accommodations Tax Act; Communication Levy Act; Environmental Levy Act; Public Entertainment Tax Act; and Interim Goods Tax Act.
The Lord Giveth, and Taketh Away…
So. For those who have been clucking with pride about plucking the last penny from our pockets with GST, their gain has been our bane. But.
As we examine the GST law, it teaches us that any law can repeal any other. While it replaced the repealed taxes with this punitive, pernicious tax – which robbed us of our civil rights, we have now seen how the taxes it replaced served us well. In fact, up to their last day, they exceeded the 12-month revenue goals set for GST in just 6 months in 2022, by merely opening our borders.10
And the existing taxes exceeded annual GST goals without taking away our civil rights… without threat of penalties with every transaction … and without threatening tourism and the grace of gratuities – nor losing revenues from dubious deductions. Those repealed taxes also exceeded revenue goals without forcing choices between eating 13% less or keeping a roof over one’s table – and without sending shoppers onto ferries and our shopkeepers into freefall.
Are Reasoned Leaders as Rare as Hen’s Teeth?
With so many flocks of repealed laws all flown the coop, perhaps the real question is whether reasoned leaders are as scarce as hen’s teeth. A lot of folks might be as mad as wet hens to think that every time this government has gone to the House and added regulations or amended the GST law – they could have just as easily repealed it! Notwithstanding who started or stood up for this cultural atrocity, nothing about GST will remain dormant in voters’ minds next time around. In or out of office, it is time to take a stand.
All We Need Is One Bill and One Vote to Repeal GST!
So. Our existing taxes exceeded GST goals in half the time demanded. And. Just as the Goods and Services Tax Act repealed five others in a single sitting with a single vote, it is time to demand a law to repeal GST and restore what served us well – so our hopes for prosperity will no longer be as rare as hen’s teeth.
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://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/scarce+as+hen%27s+teeth;2https://doi.org/10.1126/science.215.4533.698; 3https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/publaw/repealed/TOPS.pdf; 4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Repealed_United_Kingdom_Acts_of_Parliament; 5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Repealed_Great_Britain_Acts_of_Parliament; 6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Repealed_English_legislation; 7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Repealed_United_States_legislation; 8 http://laws.gov.ag/repealed-laws/; 9 Goods and Services Tax Act 2021 (Section 105, Schedule 5); 102023 Government of Anguilla Budget, pp. 2-3.
