Toribiong in his State of the Republic Address (SORA) yesterday said although the country is suffering from a continuing shortfall in local tax revenues, he will not be taking the approach of raising taxes.
“The people who are paying taxes in Palau are the very same people whose businesses are suffering or whose jobs are in jeopardy as a result of the slowdown in the economy,” the president said.He added that raising taxes will force businesses to close down, layoff of people which will just decrease local tax revenues even more.“To tax those people simply to assure that the National government can continue to operate at the same levels as it has always has strikes me as being self-defeating approach in the long run, “ he stressed.He said his administration is instead encouraging the growth of the Palau’s private sector economy.It is his goal to increase the efficiency of the national government and to limits its size to sustainable level.The president in his address said that projected local revenues for Fiscal year are down by $4 million compared to the local revenues collected in Fiscal year 2008.The president said that Palau cannot continue to depend on the charity of foreign governments.“We ourselves must take whatever action we can to relieve our people pf the economic hardship they are suffering. We have to help ourselves,” the president said.
