Honorable Speaker BJ Cruz and
Honorable Members of the Committee on Appropriation and Adjudications I oppose
Bills 34-244 & 245.[1]
An
effective, efficient government that provides basic services in accordance with
the rule of law on at least a break-even basis.[*]
The people deserve no less.
We
are now at a fork in the road provided by Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and
really ought to take “the
one less traveled by.”[2]
If we do “Somewhere ages and
ages hence:” the people will say, “And that has made all the difference.” The
road “less traveled by”
is paved with fiscal integrity and leads to an
effective, efficient government that provides basic services in accordance with
the rule of law on at least a break-even basis.
If
we take the other fork in the road[3]
we’ll be continuing down the same old road we’ve traveled for years and years. Do we want to present ourselves to the world as a
resource-rich satrapy with the requisite limousines, armed traveling retinues,
a palace,[4]
ornate capitol, a political nobility, a legislative body with 15 jobholders,[5] a
class of professional politicians, a bloated government sector that enjoys
surprise holidays by the grace of he governor and all the other trappings that
come with public supported nobility?
Or,
should
we aspire to a lean people-oriented approach where the government exists for
the people not, vice versa. A city of
165,000 folks is usually governed by mayor and a city council of, say—15
members. A few departments plus a school district, a police force, a fire
department, a city jail, etc. and that’s it. Population-wise we’re pretty much
comparable with Oceanside Oceanside
government function if it received all the federal income tax paid by its
residents and a chunk of that paid by Marines from Camp Pendleton
Notwithstanding
our being on the receiving end of all that income tax we’re about
$1,000,000,000.00 in the hole. There’s a lot of kvetching about unfunded
mandates “second class citizenship” (which has been thoroughly debunked, by the
way[6])
but we still have a far better “deal” than any of the states. In fact some
would urge the national government that our island become a state while others
trumpet the benefits of independence. Quaere:
How can anyone be independent of anything with a billion bucks worth of IOUs
outstanding? By the same token, how
feasible is the State of Guam which would drag
another billion of debt into the Union ?—Somewhere
ages and ages hence…
We’ve
been attempting to create the optics of the resource-rich satrapy
since-ever-since following the same old road
we’ve traveled for years and years. I’ll be reading this testimony into the record
in our slick, modern capitol, i.e. Guam Congress
Building
Stand on the front porch, look to the right and admire our beautiful museum. It’s an
architectural masterpiece even in the eyes of the most critical observer. Look up the hill in front of you and you’ll
catch a glimpse of what one resident governor[7]
named the Governor’s Palace.
So while the Capitol in which we gather in comfort today is a
thing of beauty, our hospital is literally falling down around our ears. We can gaze at the very modern wide screen TV
monitors to see what the built in speaker system is broadcasting but we were
told that the PA system in that same hospital didn’t work at a critical time. A
study of the plight of ten year old Aiden Gumataotao
We’re quick to say that public health, public safety and education
are our top priorities but how many cops on the street are we short? Are our
jail and prison modern and up to date and SAFE
like the three public buildings cited supra?
What about education?
…need I say more? Somewhere
ages and ages hence…
Both
bills before you today would raise what we now call the Business Privilege Tax
(BPT ) to address what has been
described as emergent circumstances caused by the national government enacting
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (Tax Cuts Act.) The message is that even though the Tax Cuts
Act will put ( or actually leave) more money in almost everyone’s pocket it’s
bad for the island! It’s bad because if
nothing is done we won’t be able to continue on the road toward establishing
the optics that our island is a resource-rich satrapy. In order to do that it’s
imperative that we increase the BPT .
The BPT
of course is the most regressive tax that could be imposed. That means that the
burden of the increased BPT will
be borne by those least able to bear it.
The
emphasis so far has been on getting through the current emergency blamed on the
Tax Cuts Act when even the most causal of observers would notice that we’ve
been working on getting to where we are for a long time by following the same old road we’ve traveled for years and years.
This
would be a perfect time to not only address the instant emergency but to
determine how we got here and how we can avoid ever arriving here again. In
other words its time for the
road less traveled by:
An
effective, efficient government that provides basic services in accordance with
the rule of law on at least a break-even basis.
Having
rather laboriously created the prolix MapQuest above, it’s time to determine
where the Bills 234 & 235 GPS ’s
direct us, i.e. will we be continuing down the
same old road we’ve traveled for years
and years or the
road less traveled by.
The
other 1% goes to the General Fund to address “…the erosion of the tax base
resulting for [sic] the passage of
the Tax Cuts Act. That phenomenon called “cash management” will determine the
use of all the “new money.”
Bill
245 raises our most regressive tax by 50% to plunk a large chunk of revenue
into what is often referred to as the cash management process: the same old road we’ve traveled for years.
Bill
244 suffers the same infirmity as 235, i.e.
it raises the BPT but at least the increase is only 25% instead
of the 50% found in 235. But the bill does at least step off the same old road we’ve traveled for years and years by reducing the legislature’s budget by 10%, same for
the Office of the Governor. Sacrifice!
§
4 of the bill freezes salary increases and § 5 stops above step recruitment for
teachers and some health workers. Plus that section would involve the Civil
Service Commission in an endeavor that has not been part of its portfolio since
2006, see 4 GCA § 6205. § § 6 & 7 are in
pari materia and § 8 sunsets the tax increase
Bill
244 at least steps off the
same old road we’ve traveled for years
and years momentarily when it cuts the
budget of the legislature. Glancing at the bills recently introduced shows that
only Sens. San Nicolas and Aguon are at least scanning the horizon for “…the road less traveled by.”
The decisions of this body will make, “…all the difference.” What do you desire “…ages and ages
hence?” Will people look back on your
performance and say--
“And that has made all the
difference?”
Respectfully submitted,
Original signed by Robert Klitzkie
[*] The
government must accrue a surplus in some years in order to pay down debt incurred
for operational expenditures in past years.
[1] Much of what I presented on January 29 re Bill 230
is likewise applicable here. That testimony, as amended on February 3,
is incorporated herein by reference.
[2] With thanks
to Robert Frost
[3] Yogi Berra : “If you come
to a fork in the road, take it.”
[4] (Governor) “Daniel also renamed the
governor’s residence, known as Government House, to the Governor’s Palace, and
even rode his horse up the residence’s steps.” GuamPedia
[5] Four members of which are so casually engaged as
to give the impression that they hadn’t thought about key legislation, Bill 92,
until the roll call began.
[6]
The second class citizen myth is thoroughly debunked
in a the column entitled Confessions
of a 3rd-class US
online.
[7] See
footnote 4.
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