DURING Gov. Calvo’s election campaign and after taking office, he often referred to the well-recognized but largely ignored need to cut the GovGuam deficit and “rightsize” the GovGuam workforce, which sucks up virtually all government revenues through payroll and benefits. He established commissions to brainstorm ways to do that along with ways to relocate, re-train, re-educate and otherwise accommodate ‘displaced’ GovGuam employees – those subject to layoff because they aren’t, and never were needed – if and when the touted but still elusive force reduction takes place – certainly unlikely in an election year.

That’s all well and good. More puzzling and obscure is his occasional veiled reference to “revenue enhancement,” which is politician-speak for fee and tax increases. Aside from the relentless borrowing binge, we’ve seen nothing to indicate the prospect of exciting new revenue infusions to bolster our floundering government.

Until now. Now there’s a whole new tax assessment scheme, not only proposed but legislated, codified and certified. There was no public announcement of the new tax changes, no press releases to warn and educate those affected – nothing but a quiet but significant change in the real property tax law.

In case you weren’t paying attention, the 31st Guam Legislature recently amended the Chamorro Land Trust (CLT) property tax law provisions in a rather dramatic way. Previously – since 1975 when Guam P.L. 12-226 (the Chamorro Land Trust Act) was signed into law – CLT properties were subject to ‘payment in lieu of taxation’ in amounts identical to taxes on private properties. For the past 17 years the Department of Revenue and Taxation never assessed or collected those payments for the more than 3,000 residential and agricultural leases, amounting to a loss of some $3.5 million.

A few weeks ago I submitted a Sunshine Act request to the director of Revenue and Taxation. In it I asked for a tax roll breakdown of Chamorro Land Trust leased property and certain other information. I received information sufficient to confirm that the most recent change to GCA 11 involving CLT property has in fact been recognized by Rev and Tax and assessments have been computed and certified. There are indications that tax bills have gone out to CLTC leaseholders. Will the money be collected?

In a nutshell, CLT lessees have had a free ride on taxes since 1995 when the first leases were awarded, and GovGuam missed out on some substantial revenue. How much? According to Revenue and Taxation certified 2011 data contained in the FOI response, leased properties are assessed at $150,536,015 for land and $20,478,079 for structures. My calculator tells me that the total 2011 tax due for CLT leases is a little more than $200,000. Over 17 years that’s potentially about $3.5 million, certainly enough to fund some school buses and teachers’ salaries.

You may not be impacted by the new tax law, as it applies to only a select group and category of resident citizens – Chamorros holding CLT leases. Financial implications may be significant – or may not. There’s more to learn and it’s slow in coming.

Aside from the seemingly unprecedented move to tax government-owned properties identically to private property, two other anomalous provisions warrant scrutiny and clarification: a) Commercial lease improvements are newly exempt from taxation. Why? b) CLT property still in the hands of Land Management is assessed at $305,090,509 and included in the total certified valuation. Why? Do they plan to tax themselves as well at some point?

It’s time to revisit the public debt limit abuse issue head-on to reveal its true nature and extent and uncover the devious and deceitful schemes our elected officials employ in pursuit of personal agendas. Who will rise to do it?