Whenever tiny things are used to justify or control colossal ones, some might say the “tail is wagging the dog” ? in the arts, politics, or any situation when rationalising irrational, disproportionate decisions or positions. The phrase originated in the US theatre in 1858 when Tom Taylor’s script posed a riddle about whether a dog “waggles” its tail, or vice versa. While various pundits adopted the idiom of tails wagging dogs for another 20 years thereafter, an iconic movie entitled “Wag the Dog” was released in 1997. The fictional plot depicted an entire war fabricated by a US president hoping to conceal and divert from a scandal in his office.[1]
Tails Wagging the Dog in Anguilla
And when it comes to rationalising burgeoning budgets right here in Anguilla, another expression coined by Oscar Wilde in 1889 might apply, that, “Life imitates art…” [2]. Two such “tails” wagging the dog of GST are Senior Shield and the mental rental of removing residential property taxes as only made possible by the “glory” of GST. Bow wow!
Is Senior Shield a Shih Tzu or a Toy Poodle?
This year, they plan to fetch ~$400 million ($404,009,706) in “recurrent revenue” from us (and future generations) while telling us that tens of millions are “needed” from GST to make things like Senior Shield possible! (GST is budgeted at $166,162,274.)[3]
Meanwhile, they will bite off ~$7 million ($6,710,000) for Senior Shield.[3]
But. They are telling people they need to chase over 40% (GST) of their budget for 1.7% (Senior Shield) to let our grannies see a doctor!
Only a toy poodle would believe that.
The Numbers Shih Tzu Not: That Tail Is Wagging the Dog!
At the other end of the GST dog, taxpayers will again drop over $20 million ($22,113,084) as a “Grant and Contribution” so we can all access medical services and medicines at government clinics and Princess Alexandra Hospital.[3] Notably, they have fed the Health Authority about that same amount for several years. Long before Senior Shield was a pup.
So. If there are 15,000 of us, government clinics and the hospital “cost” taxpayers about $1,500 per person a year. With 910 seniors in the program – which is limited to government facilities, they would represent about $1.4 million of those resources.[4] So. Why is another $7 million being added for Senior Shield? [3, p.116]
That means every senior in the country is averaging ~$8,800 per year in government doctor visits and prescriptions. That’s ~$700 per month, every senior, every month. Over $20 per day. Every day. Are all your aunties, uncles, and grannies getting $24 of medical attention and medicine, every day, all year long? Perhaps Senior Shield is truly a tail wagging the GST dog.
Outside the Fence? Regional vs. Restricted Coverage?
In addition to all that, they will spend over $9 million ($9,369,615) for government Insurance. So. With more government workers than seniors, if that is just health insurance, each one would get ~$7,100 of coverage with freedom to roam for health care throughout the region. (Assuming they have air coverage, but that is another bag of chow.) And, if any of that $9 million also insures anything else, the cost per worker could be a lay down!
Seems there are some fleas in these figures. That is, if government workers can go to any doctors or hospitals in the region for $7,100 per year, why would it cost over $8,800 per senior to be inside the government fence around its clinics and Princess Alexandra Hospital? That is, without air ambulance options, even for those with such policies? With or without deductibles, it makes you scratch your head.
Letting the Dogs Out: Unsustainable Risks
And any financial manager would tell you that self-insurance can be a very risky business. Just one serious case can let the dogs out when sharing the risk of 910 seniors’ healthcare across just 5,000 households bearing unbearable tax burdens. Whoever said subsidizing healthcare for everyone is “unsustainable” was spot on!
In fact, if we shake these tails, we’d have to ask why an insurance procurement process was not brought to public consultations (apart from their proven irrelevance in recent times). At one end of the GST dog, on top of taking $8,800 per senior (including from seniors in countless taxes)… why expose everyone to unsustainable risk? And why chain our seniors to $1,500 worth of care, when they could have the same insurance as the people who take their taxes from them – for a lower cost than Senior Shield?
Another 98 Pound Dog with a 2 Pound Tail…
Before we leave the shelter of tales about tails, we must train our attention on another tail wagging the ferocious dog of GST: Property tax removal from residential properties! Wow wow!
Of course, lots of folks like to chew on who has or hasn’t paid them, but remember, property taxes broke their leash in 2015. And as all taxes doubled at least twice, for those paying loans to stay out of the dog house and put food in the dish, it surely made more sense than bowing down to those barking at them to pay more taxes.
No matter. You would think the Alpha Dog of Treats had arrived with the recent removal of residential property tax. Yep. A 2-pound tail is being used to keep that 98-pound GST growling at us with every step we take. Not sure of their maths, yet again. The actual decrease in that line item is $ 3,567,906 for 2024, which is less than 1% of the recurrent revenue. However, they are whimpering about 3.42% being surrendered for this “magnificent” bone.[3]
Whether 1% or 3%, it is another tail wagging the GST dog. Owwww!
GST is a Dog’s Breakfast…
They must think we are toy poodles that have forgotten that GST is comprised of: Accommodation Tax, Communications Tax, Environmental Levy, Promoter’s Tax – and 9% of Customs Duty before we had over 95,000 tourists last year and over 9% inflation since we let them back in. We deserve transparency, not a field of buried bones and wagging tails. What we “need” is not GST. We need to reinstate the taxes GST shredded during the pandemic. Just like it is shredding our civil society and making us less safe. Tell anyone who thinks they deserve your vote to rescue Anguilla from its jaws, and to stop trying to wag the GST dog with their tales!
Repeal GST – and pass a balanced budget bill. Now.
This article reflects cultural and economic issues raised on July 5, 2021, at the House Select Committee on GST Public Hearing. [1] https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/tail-wagging-the-dog; [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imitating_art; [3] GoA 2024 Budget; [4] [transcript 8/3/23] https://www.youtube.com/tch?v=mxudDRMgRfw.
