With one-third of July already gone down in history, and the month of August swiftly approaching, the Hon. Premier Cora Richardson-Hodge has once again announced that August 1st 2025 will see the implementation of the much-talked-about GST Relief Plan. She publicly made this information clear during the recent Government Press Conference held last Monday, 7th July, 2025.
“Last week we met with our GST consultants,” she said, “and the scope of the consultation was to reform the Goods and Services Tax.”
She reiterated that last year the Anguilla United Front party had devised the GST Relief Plan that would have essentially removed taxes from four sectors: wholesale, retail, manufacturing and restaurants. “We are now moving forward in line with this Relief Plan. Our consultants were on the ground last week. They will return to Anguilla at the middle of this month to resume their work.”
She announced that the repeal of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be replaced by what is called the “General Services Tax” (GST) – same acronym but a different concept.
“As per the Relief Plan,” she noted, “we will be also implementing an Imported Goods Tax (IGT) which is 9% at the ports. This tax will not be compounded.”
She further explained: “So, the GST of 13% will be removed and the 9% IGT will be applied to all imported goods. There will be no claim back provision after payment of this 9% port tax is made.”
The Premier, who is also Minister of Finance stated that over the coming weeks Government will be meeting with stakeholders and holding consultations with concerned individuals, so that the Relief Plan can be fine-tuned before it goes into effect.
“The bill is intended to go to the house for its first reading on July 22nd, and the intent is to have it implemented on August 1st 2025,” the Premier reiterated.
She also announced that: “On July 15th we anticipate taking to the House another aspect of GST Relief, which is the removal of GST from public entertainment. Some weeks ago, we had announced in the House the intention to remove GST from public entertainment. The legislation for this will be coming to the House on July 15th, although for all intents and purposes it has already been implemented so that activities geared towards the upcoming carnival could be exempted from GST.”
Asked what effect these repeals of the Goods and Services Tax will have on Government’s revenues, the Premier answered: “I would like to go back to the four reasons why the GST reform is being implemented. These are to reduce inflation; to provide food security for residents; to increase consumer purchasing power; and to stimulate economic growth. These are the four key factors which form the basis of this GST reform.”
While she did not yet directly explain how the repeal would impact Government revenues, she continued to elaborate: “We are anticipating that with the reform being implemented, it would allow persons to keep more money in their pockets. It would enable persons to have more spending power, and people would be better able to take care of their families.”
After being asked again about the impact of the tax cuts on Government’s revenues the Premier mentioned: “The consultants anticipate a decrease of 21% would be incurred. But as you would recall, GST has been over performing since its inception…so even if you apply the 21% loss on revenues, you will be well over and above what the anticipated revenue base would have been.”
She explained that the GST Relief Plan should not be looked at upon the basis of how much revenues the Government will lose through cutting direct taxation, because Government does not make money. “It is the private sector that makes the money and government benefits from what the private sector does,” she said. “So if we are able to spur economic activity in the country once again, then notwithstanding the loss of that 21%, we would still be able to gain it back by having a vibrant economy.”
When further asked whether the tax cuts brought about through the GST Relief Plan would have any negative impact on the provision of Government’s services, the Premier responded: “No! not at all.”
