Guam - Calvo Tenorio Campaign Attorney Thomas J. Fisher sent a letter Tuesday evening to Democrat candidate for Governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez stating he owes the people of Guam an explanation for the "slanderous and untrue comments you've been making about tax writeoffs."

The Gutierrez Gumataotao Team contends Governor Eddie Calvo has repeatedly evaded the question as to whether he gave "a $3.6 million tax write-off to one of your family businesses?And if you don't want to answer the question, would you submit to an independent forensic audit of the tax records?"

Last Friday, Governor Calvo wrote a letter to Gutierrez stating that although he had publicly told him five times that he had not given a tax write off to any Calvo family or business that he would submit to a forensic audit and investigation by an "auditor or investigator who may fit your definition of ‘independent.' I will welcome this authority to audit these records you claim implicate me in some imaginary tax write off."

Attorney Fisher in his letter Tuesday evening accuses the Gutierrez Gumataotao campaign of circulating what appears to be an illegally obtained tax document that claims to show the forgiveness of $3.6 million in corporate income tax penalties and interest. He added additional documents that were released on the internet Monday fully substantiate what "Gov. Calvo has been saying since you started making these false allegations in your malicious attempt to smear his integrity."

Here's the text of the letter sent by Attorney Fisher to former Governor Gutierrez outlining what he says proves the accusations are a sham:

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October 28, 2014

Carl T. C. Gutierrez

Candidate for governor

Gutierrez Gumataotao headquarters

Hand delivery

Dear Gov. Gutierrez,

You owe the people of Guam an explanation for the slanderous and untrue comments you've been making about tax write offs. To this point, you've been telling the public that Gov. Calvo wrote off taxes to a family business. Your campaign has circulated what appears to be an illegally-obtained tax document that you claim shows the forgiveness of corporate income tax penalties and interest in the sum of $3.6 million. We have no way to independently confirm the authenticity or accuracy of the documents on the Internet (but note that they do not pertain to the Calvo family), because all tax documents are legally protected. But even relying on the document that you allege to be accurate, they only serve to prove that you have been deceiving the people for the last three weeks.

Yesterday, in response to the media's demand for the "smoking gun," some of the more fervent supporters in your campaign began circulating additional documents on the Internet. Well, they produced the smoking gun alright, but the only person that appears to have been shot by it is you—in the foot. These documents fully substantiate what Gov. Calvo has been saying since you started making these false allegations in your malicious attempt to smear his integrity.

The major document released was a letter from accounting firm Ernst & Young to the director of the Department of Revenue and Taxation. In this letter, the accounting firm identifies its clients. Minimal research will reveal that the taxpayers in these tax documents criminally obtained are not Calvo-family businesses, but companies under the umbrella of multi-national conglomerate AIG. To punctuate this point, even the letter that you rely on to support your baseless allegations defines the taxpayers "as U.S. corporations with business operations in several tax jurisdictions including Guam."

The letter points out that the taxpayers did an internal audit and discovered that they had underpaid Guam taxes by $5.5 million. The letter further points out that the taxpayers had already amended their tax returns and had fully paid all additional taxes owing.

What is obvious from the documents exhibited on the Internet is that the DRT did not appear to know that taxes were even owed by these taxpayers. The date of the Ernst & Young letter is January 22, 2014. The documents you say show the assessment of penalties and interest, dating back to 2007, all show that those assessments were made on March 12, 2014—almost two months after the taxpayer reported and paid the additional taxes.

Now seeing these additional documents in context, the documents you rely on, it is clear that this is not a case of a Calvo-family business receiving a $3.6 million tax write-off, as you've been telling everyone. Rather, this is a case of a responsible corporate citizen discovering a $5.5 million tax reporting error, bringing it to the authorities' attention, and paying it.

There are many reasons why a taxing authority would consider waiving penalties and interests, chief among would be the taxpayer's good faith and history of filing and timely paying past returns. The statute of limitations for the auditing of tax returns is three years. The taxpayers should be commended for not only reporting to DRT their error, but for not relying on this three-year limit, as they went back and paid all taxes due from 2007. Didn't you recently chastise Gov. Calvo for not using the statute of limitations defense to avoid paying the meritorious bonus to the hard-working government of Guam workers? Lucky for us, these taxpayers did not subscribe to your idea of fairness.

Equally as disturbing as the slander that you have been spreading about the Governor and his family is your condoning the criminal activity that has been ongoing to release legally-protected tax documents to the public. The taxpayers involved are a part of one of the largest corporations in the world. How should they, and every other company doing business or thinking about doing business on Guam, feel when a former governor and a current gubernatorial candidate is touting criminally-obtained tax documents in his bid for election? Hardly confidence inspiring. The damage that your tactics have inflicted on the good names of local residents, responsible corporate citizens, and on the investment climate on Guam may never be fully measured.

The question is not whether Gov. Calvo gave a tax write off to a family business. That question is answered. The questions that should now linger in the minds of the people of Guam are how long have you had these other documents in your possession? How long have you been intentionally deceiving the people of Guam? What you have done may have encouraged, even abetted, the criminal activity that may have been undertaken on your behalf. And, why should the people of Guam elect a candidate who flaunts the laws of Guam and shatters taxpayer and investor confidence in our government?

Your slanderous allegations have been proven here to be a lie. You should apologize to the people of Guam for starting and perpetuating it.

With complete regard for the truth,

THOMAS J. FISHER, Esq.
Attorney-at-law
Calvo Tenorio 2014

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KUAM has requested a response from the Gutierrez Gumataotao campaign.