- Prev
- 1 of 2
- Next
THE Governor’s Office will be submitting legislation next week to the Legislature to amend a current law so GovGuam can pay out the remainder of 2011 tax refunds.
At issue is $33 million set aside in government of Guam reserve coffers for next year’s refunds. Gov. Eddie Calvo wants to use this fund to pay out refunds that are still owed.
According to Troy Torres, the governor’s communications director, the recently sold bond only covers $60 million for 2011 refunds.
“We need $105 million to fully cover 2011 tax refunds. There’s this money that is available as cash in the bank and we want to use it to pay off refunds as much as possible,” Torres said.
He stressed the governor will not be seeking another bond for next year.
“We’re going to empty the pot. If this bill passes into law, what we’re going to be emptying are the reserves and we have to fill it back up,” Torres said.
Tax refunds are expected to be mailed out in the middle part of next week.
Guthertz plan
Meanwhile, Sen. Judi Guthertz also announced yesterday that she will immediately offer legislation which will free money currently being held in reserve by GovGuam for 2012 tax obligations.
“I think it is prudent for us as a government to clear any debts owed to our people and I support Gov. Calvo’s call for a clean slate with regard to the payment of all tax refunds owed for 2011,” Guthertz said.
The senator added she will proffer legislation to do what the governor has requested.
“I’m offering my assistance and am willing to provide a bridge via legislation to complete the payout of our people’s money utilizing these monies, which I understand currently amounts to $33 million, but by law, is being held in reserve.”
Guthertz concluded: “We owe it to our hardworking families to provide them with timely tax returns. It is, after all, their money.”
Comments
The total debt is more than 2 BILLION I read. Yearly budget deficits run $tens of millions each year. The " Fab Five " loves to show face and tell us how they are working on fiscal integrity.....
The answer is simply CUT the size of the Gov Guam workfarce. Some 90% to 95% of revenue collected goes to personnel and their bennies.
Reality Check == NO politician will even think of cutting the cost of the Gov Guam workfarce, to do so is political suicide. One small solution is to increase GRT to 5% and to raise property taxes. This will never happen due to the lack of cojones at the House of Hessler..
So what happens in 2013 when the 2012 tax refunds are due?
Can GovGuam borrow more on the bond market? No, that has been maxed out.
Can GovGuam borrow elsewhere? Maybe
GovGuam has a huge deficit, in excess of $300 million per year last I heard, debt in excess of $1 billion. The only source of potential growth is the military buildup, and that is on hold.
Sooner or later, GovGuam will borrow evvery last dollar it can borrow. then it will be forced to have austerity even though it doesn't want to.
This has been tried in other counties, and the outcome is bad. The best thing to do, is to try to get the deficit under control before the borrowing is maxed out.
Sincerely,
Phil Dauterman
That's why education can't be marginal or mediocre. Students need to graduate with competitive skills and not be relegated to dead end options with no benefits.
RSS feed for comments to this post