Gas tax relief extended another six months

Legislation by Speaker Therese Terlaje and Sen. Joe San Agustin will help Guamanians to keep costs down now that the governor has signed two bills into law. Today, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero signed a law extending the moratorium on the liquid fuel tax. The law, authored by Sen. Joe San Agustin, will keep the government of Guam from adding another 20+ cents to the cost of a gallon of gas through its old tax on unleaded gasoline.

Over the weekend, Ms. Leon Guerrero signed a law by Speaker Therese Terlaje that will provide a $100 discount on power bills for five months, beginning with the December billing.

“On June 21, 2022, I signed into law Public Law No. 36-105, the Gas Tax Relief Act,” Ms. Leon Guerrero began explaining in her message to senators about her decision to sign the act’s extension. “The Act was intended to help stabilize the rising price of gasoline on Guam by temporarily waiving the levy of excise taxes, automotive surcharges, and mass transit automotive surcharges on liquid fuel… The period of the waiver provided in P.L. 36-105 was scheduled to expire today. Recognizing that the temporary waiver provided in the Act yielded the intended result of stabilizing the price of gas, and determining that relief the waiver extends to ultimate consumers is still necessary to help alleviate the high cost of fuel, Bill No. 358-36 seeks to extend the Gas Tax Relief Act for a period of another one hundred eighty (180) calendar days, and further appropriates funds to cover the gap in funding the extended waiver would otherwise cause for the identified government programs.”

The measure now is Public Law 36-124.