Senate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, announced on Friday the establishment of a Tax Policy and Enforcement Review Committee to “address the need for revenue generation.”
All tax and revenue measures must come from the House of Representatives.
Manglona said although the government has a new budget, the CNMI people still face many problems.
The commonwealth’s economy, he added, “continues to look bleak.”
He noted that the governor had hinted more pay cuts for government workers whose working hours were already reduced by 25 percent.
“I would like to acknowledge the hard work that has been done with passing this year’s budget and resolving the government shutdown. Although we have taken care of those issues, I would like to remind you that we still have our work cut out for us. We need to continue to move forward and address the problems the CNMI still has,” he said.
The new committee, he added, will meet with all relevant agencies, business groups and any citizens who can educate lawmakers on the best ways to help the CNMI government.
Manglona appointed Senate Vice President Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian, as the chairman of the committee, and Sens. Jovita M. Taimanao, Ind.-Rota, and Ralph DLG. Torres, R-Saipan, as members.
This panel, Manglona said, will have the option to appoint two additional members from the community. They will report their findings in the next ninety days.
“I look forward to addressing the budget shortfalls and know that we can make the right decisions to help bring a promising tomorrow for our people,” Manglona said.
Speaker Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, said there is nothing else the CNMI government can do to avoid the downward trend of the economy except for the legalization of casino gaming on Saipan.
“The revenue bill the Senate is talking about? Lucky if it could generate $2 million a year,” he said.
He said the austerity measures the government has imposed on its employees will further weaken businesses and reduce government revenue.
“So it’s going to be a vicious cycle,” he added.
The only solution, he said, is a Saipan casino.
He said he knew from the very beginning that the $132 million budget they approved would eventually no longer reflect actual revenues.
“That was why I asked the Office of Management and Budget to update their projection because I knew that something was wrong,” he said.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ramon Basa, Covenant-Saipan, said they had mentioned over and over how very pessimistic they were about the government’s financial resources.
He said the CNMI is such a small community that it’s easy to tell if the revenue is going down.
Businesses are shutting down, he added.
“All those are indexes. And the problem is we don’t have reliable measurement such as an up-to-date GDP,” he said adding that they have to be “very cognizant of the plight of families and businesses” in this time of crisis.
Before raising business fees, Basa said the Legislature has to conduct public hearings and work with the affected members of the community.
Basa said the CNMI needs to bolster agriculture and aquaculture as new industries.
He said the islands’ economic problem will take time to fix but the CNMI government must form a partnership with the business community to find mutual and realistic solutions.
Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said pending a complete review of the government expenditures and revenue analysis, the administration will continue to operate within the $132 million budget.
He said other factors may change this projection, although there is no assurance at this time that it may go up.
Some of the factors include an increase in cash collections or the enactment of “sound and prudent revenue generating measures,” Demapan added.
He did not elaborate.
