Nairyani Sikyang, a retired government employee who lives on Tinian, told the Variety she was among the victims.
She said she was told by the CNMI Treasury that their rebate checks were mailed on that day but they were lost.
“How can we lose a bunch of checks? Are they using this as an excuse because they really don’t have the money?” she asked.
She said she checked with their post office but couldn’t get any further information about the missing checks.
When asked about the issue, Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the case of the missing checks, if true, was “very unusual.”
He said he will ask the Department of Finance if the rebate checks for Sikyang and other taxpayers on Tinian were indeed mailed on July 23.
He assured that Finance will take the necessary action.
“I am sure [the department] will work to resolve the issue. We should not miss the fact that rebates have been paid on a timely basis since we succeeded in securing cover over funds for this purpose. Compare this to the situation before this administration, when taxpayers suffered delays of several years,” he said in an e-mail.
The cash-strapped CNMI government paid tax rebates and refunds using proceeds from the more than $41 million in cover-over taxes that it collected from the federal government.
