Calvo said if the government is to pay past-due tax refunds by Christmas, he must appear before ratings agencies by mid-September.
He told senators that while he understands “this is not a perfect solution and there are other obligations we wish we could include, this is the only solution on the table right now.”
A legislative session will be held today at 9 a.m. On the agenda is the government of Guam’s fiscal budget submitted by Calvo which includes the bond-borrowing proposal.
Calvo said rather than paying $280 million in tax refunds as originally proposed, his fiscal team has now restructured the plan to ensure even the current year’s tax refunds are paid next year.
Claiming that over a thousand people came to his office in desperation, asking for their tax refunds for valid reasons, Calvo begged senators to authorize him to float the bond.
“This is a list of 1,265 people who humbled themselves out of desperation to come to my office and ask for their tax refund. I provided this list to your offices with the names redacted along with this message. I’m sure you’ve seen many of these people in your offices as well.”
