$60M in tax refunds to be mailed out

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - A little over $60 million in tax refunds should be in the mail in the next two weeks, according to the Calvo Administration, after it successfully sold the over $100 million Series 'B' bond in New York today.

The bonds have sold! That's the news coming from Adelup that not only has its fiscal team successfully sold the $108.7 million bond, but also at a new record low interest rate replacing the former record low of 4.9% earned last December. Although currently in Japan, Governor Eddie Calvo over the phone expressed his excitement about the news, saying, "That's even a lower rate than Series 'A' - that was some good news for those folks waiting for tax refunds."

The Series 'B' bond will go toward paying over $60 million for tax refunds for Tax Year 2011, an estimated $25.1 million to the Government of Guam Retirement Fund and approximately $18 million for health insurance payments and for other purposes.

Governor's chief of staff Frank Arriola attributes the success to the Administration's fiscal policies from streamlining the government to cost-cutting measures. He told KUAM News, "The story they put together is something we're all looking and seeing today - what you see is what you get again a strong fiscal conservative effort on our part as well as a strong revenue enhancements."

The bond proceeds are expected to be transferred to the government by the bond closing date set for June 6. According to the Guam Department of Revenue & Taxation, the tax refunds meanwhile should be ready to distribute in the mail a day or so after.

The $60 million only covers about half of what is owed for 2011. As the Administration has continued to stress, because the bond was split into two series, every dollar that is appropriated or used other than for tax refunds needs to be planned for. Earlier this month when the Fiscal Responsibility and Tax Refund Commission met to discuss recommendations in not only addressing the over-billion dollar deficit but how to address paying for the remaining and future tax refunds.

Ultimately though, both Arriola and Calvo say the work and challenges are not over yet. The former noted, "We're always on a daily basis looking at ways to streamline our government, make it more efficient, more effective to service the people of Guam; and number two, we're always looking at ways to enhance and improve the economic development of our island." And the governor added, "We have to continue, the government has to live within its means, we can never get into a position where we owe the taxpayers for many years of previous refunds that were owed, its unacceptable."

Rev & Tax meanwhile has said that the release of refunds will be based on who filed first. but a cutoff date has not yet been determined until the next week or two.