by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - It's been known for a while that the bond proceeds from the Series 'B' bond would not be enough to pay for all of 2011 tax refunds. And as the bond is expected to close next week, Senator Judi Guthertz has introduced legislation to help free-up money currently being held in reserve to pay for not all but most of the 2011 refunds.

Guthertz has introduced Bill 470 relative to the Income Tax Refund Reserve Fund. According to the measure, the Fund requires a source set aside for each subsequent tax year - in this instance, for Tax Year 2012 - regardless of current or pass due tax liabilities with monies, which are accruing subject to provisions of the law. It's the bill's intent to ensure that any reserves intended for a subsequent tax year be made available in order to ensure that any current or past due obligation is settled first.

She says it's prudent to clear any debts owed to the people of Guam, explaining, "Because the people have a right to have their money and the governor has made a strong case for it and we need this to help families and to also help the economy."

The bill is co-sponsored by thirteen senators - minus Speaker Judi Won Pat and Senator Ben Pangelinan, who is currently off-island. The legislation comes at the request of Governor Eddie Calvo, who yesterday said he would ask lawmakers to amend the current law to allow for the $33 million in reserves to be spent for prior year tax refunds. The Department of Revenue & Taxation has estimated that 2011 tax refunds totaled about $105 million.

"We want to see if we can get this done during this legislative session so the administrative processing of all the refunds checks can be done at one time," Guthertz continued.

Governor Calvo meanwhile said he intends to work with Guthertz and supports her efforts, telling KUAM News, "I want to thank Senator Guthertz for moving forward with us in writing the proper legislation in order to amend the current budget law."

In a release today, Pangelinan, the chairman of the Legislative Committee on Finance and Taxation, said he was relieved that the governor finally is agreeing with him to pay 2011 tax refunds. However, he didn't agree that special legislation is needed, stating he "supports all efforts including unnecessary legislation to get taxpayers their refunds."

Governor Calvo responded by saying it appears to be a double-take with Pangelinan as he has always been hard on Department of Administration to follow the law relative to the setting aside of money and hopes he'll continue to offer his support not only with the legislation but the Administration as well in paying out the tax refunds. The governor said, "And once again it appears to what he says is not consistent with the laws he has introduced, authored and passed, so again I feel bad for senator Pangelinan, he is contradicting the very laws he has authored in regards to putting reserve for current and future tax refunds."

Senator Guthertz office meanwhile had sent a request for an emergency declaration waiving a public hearing on Bill 470 to allow for the release of the prior year's government tax liabilities as senators were still discussing Bill 437 in the Committee of the Whole.