Sorry, mine is not for sale. If they would have done their jobs 10 years ago we would not be in this mess now.
Anyone who understands business knew that when President Clinton signed the NAFTA trade treaty that the garment factories were dead. What did the Legislature do? They gave the factories every tax break in the book.
If they would have taxed them the way they should have, we would have had millions more dollars in the general fund. Instead the money left the island in the pockets of the garment owners.
Not only did they not tax them, they made no attempt to find new revenue to replace them. For ten years they kept right on spending money like they had a never ending supply. Well, now it has caught up with them. Now they want to cut work-hours to cover their lack of action. So what else do they want to do? They want to turn Saipan into the sin capital of the Pacific. They want to bring in gambling and drugs. Do they have so little regard for the rest of us?
They have done no studies on what the true financial gain is really going to be. How about how much money we are going to lose in federal aid? All they do is talk about all the wonderful things they are going to do for the island. I say it is nothing but a lot of hot air. An attempt to con the residents into falling for their attempt to serve the special interest groups that they are really working for.
I do not think that residents of the island realize that every dime they make on drugs and gambling is going to come out of the pockets of the local residents. Just look what is going on with the poker machines.
I say that enough is enough. Each and every one of you should call your elected members of the Legislature. Tell them what you really want them to do. Then come next election we need to get Tina Sablan back in the Legislature.
Then vote in some new lawmakers who will work for the residents of the island. Not the special interest groups.
If I am wrong and the people want drugs and gambling, let’s go all the way and legalize prostitution too. We all know that they will make money and they will be a lot easier to collect taxes from.
But rather than pass a bunch of new bad laws, why do they not enforce the laws that we already have? Over one-third of the cars on island have expired tabs on them. Let’s force them to get inspected and up to date tabs and insurance. It is not fair to those of us who follow the law to be put at risk by those who do not follow the law.
Go after businesses that do not give you receipts when you make a purchase. That way they do not have to report the sale. Those two items would bring in a fair amount of revenue. Then you could go after all the money that Mr. Pellegrino has written about. Boy would that shake things up.
FREDERICK PROSSER
As Matuis, Saipan
NOTE: In my last letter I listed my phone numbers as 322-2609 and 483-1940. It should have been 322-2609 and 285-1940. Sorry for the mistake.
