In an interview on Monday, Inos said the only way to avoid the looming deficit is to get more direct assistance from the federal government.
“That is the only way to get something going right now,” Inos said.
The CNMI does not have the kind of capital infusion needed by its government, he added.
Acting Finance Secretary Connie Agulto disclosed during a meeting with senators last week that the government was not meeting its projected collections.
For the first quarter of the fiscal year, she said the projected collection was short of about $3 million, and if the situation continues there will be more delayed government pay checks.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, in a separate interview, said he wants to sit down with Inos, his former finance secretary, who will focus on the CNMI government’s financial woes.
“We agreed to ‘compartmentalize’ our tasks,” the governor added.
Inos said there are several revenue-generating bills that the Legislature has to deliberate and conduct public hearings on.
He could not tell which particular bill the administration should support but he said they are willing to work with lawmakers.
But the business license fee hike proposed by lawmakers “is not going to do the job,” he added.
He said the concept of revenue-generating bills “is kind of a misplaced.”
“We need to infuse more capital into the economy. We need to get more investments. And if we do that maybe we don’t need to do a whole lot of special legislation to increase tax rates,” he said.
Inos said the CNMI’s revenue-base has shrunk and increasing the tax rate will not result in more collections.
Fitial for his part, reiterated his opposition to any tax hike.
“When the economy is bad, we must stay away from tax increases because that will only further burden the taxpayers,” he added.
