NAME: David "Dave" Duenas
PARTY: Democrat            
RACE: Senatorial
CONTACT INFO:
[email protected]   671-487-3196
PLATFORM:
I will advocate to Repeal Liquid Fuel Tax and  reduce Business Privilege Tax.

Our island is faced with a serious probability of our residents leaving the island due to the outrageous cost of living with everything from fuel cost increasing, power rates and other essentials.  I would advocate and encourage our elected leaders to repeal the liquid fuel tax and reduce the Business Privilege Tax to 4 percent immediately.

Our government has said many times if the BPT is reduced it would result in fewer taxes collected for the general fund, I say that’s OK our government must downsize/right size and learn to live within its means.  A hiring freeze within the government of Guam with exemptions for critical positions i.e “teachers, nurses, police recruits should be implemented, and replace government employees who retire with existing government employees, thus avoiding the need to hire new staff

We all have heard the argument that reducing the BPT would not translate to lower cost to the consumers because businesses will not lower the cost for items sold since we are use to paying the high cost. A watch group or the Office Public Auditor should monitor the cost of goods to ensure businesses do pass on the savings to their customers.  Lowering the BPT will result in businesses ability to stay open, hiring of new employees and create more jobs for our residence while still generating tax revenues and promote  economic recovery  of our island. I am confident the savings that will be seen by reducing the BPT can be passed on to the businesses allowing businesses to absorb an increase in the minimum wages of their employees.

In repealing the liquid fuel tax our residents will see a reduction in fuel cost at the pumps. Granted the price of a barrel of oil in the world market dictates the cost for fuel but placing a local liquid fuel tax only adds to the overall cost. We should encourage the petroleum companies to be competitive in their prices and not mirror their prices as it has for years.

The reality is if nothing is done to lower the cost of living on our island, our people will leave for better opportunities/wages in the mainland where their dollar has more buying power.