Although a significant amount of money is being “repatriated,” Inos said foreign workers are also paying taxes and participating in the local economy as consumers, and this means they are also contributing to the local economy.
Besides, he added, what one does with his or her earnings is up to the worker.
Like most people looking for ways to improve their livelihood, Inos said he himself personally benefited from remittances.
His father, he said, worked in different places and remitted part of his wages to them, his family.
“These folks are trying to earn a living,” he added.
Two weeks ago, Rep. Joseph M. Palacios, R-Saipan, brought up the possibility of imposing a tax on remittances, noting that a significant amount of money leaves the CNMI every year instead of helping its economy.
Last year alone, he said the total amount that nonresidents sent off-island was more than $65 million. Previous years’ remittances were even bigger.
Asked if nonresidents should be allowed to bring in their families to the CNMI so they won’t have to remit money, Inos said, “the economics of more people being on island and increasing on-island expenditure is essentially a given.”
“But we are not relying on that to happen,” he added.
