“We are not a bunch of morons over here,” said Tenorio, who was governor when Tinian Dynasty decided to invest $250 million on the island. It turned out to be the CNMI’s last major foreign investment venture.
Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, finds it ironic that the Tinian mayor was making statements regarding the hotel’s tax debt, which now amounts to $30 million.
He said Dela Cruz is wrong to say that Tinian Dynasty has been contributing to the CNMI economy if it is not paying its taxes.
The casino, and not only the hotel, owes the government, he added.
He said the obligation to pay business gross revenue tax covers all operations of a business entity.
It is only the gaming tax from the casino operation that goes to the Tinian Casino and Gaming Control Commission. BGRT, Tenorio said, is another thing, and along with the hotel and restaurant operations, the casino should also be part of Dynasty’s BGRT obligation due to the central government.
Asked for comment, Dela Cruz said he no longer wants to entertain any comments coming from Tenorio who, he added, should not belong to the Legislature.
Dela Cruz said he was referring to the business activities on Saipan and Rota that Tinian Dynasty helped create by bringing in tourists to the CNMI.
Tourists who visit the Tinian casino, he added, always land on Saipan first and stay here for a day or two.
But Tenorio doubts whether these business activities have brought in as much as what Tinian Dynasty now owes the central government.
What the Tinian leadership should do, he added, is pursue the installation of an instrument landing system, or ILS, at the Tinian airport so the island can have direct flights from tourism markets.
“I would support that,” he said, referring to the installation of an ILS.
He recalled discussing it with Rep. Trenton B. Conner, R-Tinian, one time. He said the Tinian lawmaker told him he was going to update him, Tenorio, about Tinian’s ILS efforts, “but he never came back to me.”
