by Mindy Aguon, KUAM NewsThursday, December 22, 2005 Subscribe to Mindy's newsfeed
Another legal battle has been filed by the Attorney General's Office against the Governor and one of his cabinet members. A Civil Rights Act lawsuit was filed in the District Court today as the island's chief legal officer insists the government is overtaxing the people of Guam.Island residents may not have to pay Real Property Tax come February, if the AG's Office wins its suit. Filed against Governor Felix Camacho and Department of Revenue & Taxation director Art Ilagan, the claim seeks to stop the government from taxing residents for Real Property Tax until an islandwide appraisal has been conducted. The last comprehensive real property appraisal of residential and commercial properties on island was conducted in 1993.While public law requires an appraisal be held every three years, the government has failed to do so for twelve years. The lack of an appraisal, the AG's Office argues, means taxpayers rights have been violated for years and taxed too much. According to the complaint, the government maintains, "the value of real property has substantially and drastically depreciated", specifically by 80% for commercial real properties and approximately 35% for residential real properties.The lawsuit goes on to state that the Governor and Ilagan's failure to conduct an appraisal has resulted in the collection of "unauthorized and illegal revenues based on non-uniform and falsely inflated values of real properties". The AG's Office also adds that taxpayers should not be required to file real property taxes until the appraisal is conducted.Deputy attorney general Joseph Guthrie requested the court issue several orders affirming the government's violations of the Constitution and the Organic Act. Additionally Guthrie requested an advisory jury be empanelled to review the issue. Ilagan maintains there's no enough money to conduct an appraisal, which he estimates will cost between $4.5-$5 million. Annually the Government of Guam collects $20 million in real property taxes. Should the court stop Rev & Tax from collecting the levy, Ilagan says the result will be a greater cash crunch. The director says his agency is already finding it difficult to pay the mandated 83.2% of withholding taxes to the Guam Public School System, so finding $5 million to conduct an appraisal is nearly impossible. Ilagan maintains the only real solution is the Governor's bond-borrowing measure that would float nearly $200 million in bonds to payoff current debts and obligations. That measure is currently held up in court because of the Attorney General's opposition.Meanwhile aside from the lawsuit, Ilagan will now have to find an attorney as the AG's Office has sued its client. Governor Camacho had no comment about the lawsuit, saying he has yet to be served.