GovGuam Budget and Tax Burden Are Out of Touch

Opinion by Eulogio Shawn Gumataotao for Kandit News & Views

Our businesses of every size are the engine of our Guam economy.

I spent the first days as a policymaker meeting with all the agencies under my charge-public safety, emergency management and the national guard.

The discussions. The insight. Good and bad. Can I share that there is plenty going on across our law enforcement and response agencies today?

The issues facing them are critical.

 

Regarding Government finances – what about the finances of our business community? Our BPT reliance was more of a reliance on our businesses. The reliance came with an expansion of government while tourism and other industries struggle to recover.

Reported surpluses are no doubt part of record federal appropriations into the island. Many have argued that such federal intervention has simply helped one part of this island’s economy. The rollback proposed in my Bill 11-38 is much simpler than many may think. Rollback the BPT and the 1% is put right back into businesses all over the island. Sure, some industries have been helped.

 

It is much bigger than that. Fleets get upgraded. Training for the over 60k private-sector workers as part of the same private sector can be expected to improve efficiency and productivity. Investments across our business sector-not just a few.

We can expect that this rollback will come with a serious talk about GovGuam finances. Talks with my colleagues on this so far – regardless of the governor of Guam telegraphing a veto without meaningful discussions on the merits of Bill 11-38 – is that we will need to seriously look at the delivery of GovGuam services.

A billion dollar budget that purports to invest more into GovGuam seems a bit out of touch right at this moment in Guam and the events happening all around us. Have you walked the streets of Tumon in the evening? Are businesses having trouble recruiting and retaining hardworking employees? When businesses engage an agency of our government, are they getting what they are paying for?

 

We have a great GovGuam workforce. But PRIORITY must be our task in the creation of policies that affect every level of this island community. The rollback is the first step.

We will PRIORITIZE fighting crime on our streets by supporting law enforcement teams to fight that crime, advocating for critical services to lessen the scourge of drugs and bring back the credibility in these organizations.

This legislature and especially the majority is keen to address the needs of our community in a very similar way. Priorities need to be funded. Those less must go away. We must repeal laws that do not work in 2025 and create common sense legislation that fuels opportunity and not initiatives that put more of our people out of work or reliant on a government that cannot provide basic services today.

 

Bill 11-38 is the key for better dialogue between our branch and our businesses. Our businesses of every size are the engine of our Guam economy. Bill 11-38 will not undermine the government’s ability to provide critical services.

On the contrary, this bill will be a reminder of the collaboration of the whole of our community to protect priority services through the responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

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Eulogio Shawn Gumataotao is a member of the 38th Guam Legislature. He is the chairman of the committee with oversight of public safety and emergency management agencies, the author of the bill to rollback the Business Privilege tax from five percent to four percent of gross revenues, and he is the chairman of the Republican Party of Guam.