Amidst Guam’s fiscal problems, Senator Mike San Nicolas disclosed that there actually is money if only taxes are paid and collected right.
In Nicolas’s letter to Governor Eddie B. Calvo, October 20, he urged him to authorize the Attorney General to act as a special investigator and prosecutor to investigate collections and enforcement at the Department of Revenue and Taxation.
After two Rev & Tax officials plead guilty to corruption charges after a four year federal undercover investigation, Rev & Tax Director John Camacho last week asked the Guam Police Department to conduct an investigation into the possibility of corruption in the department. San Nicolas said that he is concerned because there are divisions within the department that are shielded from scrutiny because the Organic Act provides that certain documents may be inspected only by the Governor or their designee.
“I commend Governor Calvo for recognizing the importance of fighting corruption and the need to ensure the integrity of the Department of Revenue and Taxation,” said San Nicolas. “The fair and just enforcement of our laws is vital to the public trust and we need to verify the incorruptibility of our tax collection and enforcement processes, it must not be shielded from scrutiny when other divisions in the department are being investigated,” San Nicolas added.
“Tens of millions of dollars go uncollected every year, with some taxpayers receiving multiple abatements, erasing their total tax due by millions of dollars. These abatements are secret and are cannot be audited for integrity except by the Governor or his designee. As part of his comprehensive investigation into the possibility of corruption in Rev & Tax, I am asking the Governor to authorize the Attorney General to act as an independent investigator and prosecutor to audit collections and enforcement at Rev & Tax or to seek an audit from a federal authority like the Internal Revenue Service,” writes San Nicolas.
It is to be noted that the Governor is the Tax Commissioner, and as such, he is the only one who has the authority to examine and investigate corruption within Rev & Tax.
It has also been one year since $167,000 in taxpayer payments, $18,000 of it in cash, was stolen from a safe within the collections branch of the Department of Revenue and Taxation. After questioning several employees about the theft, there has still been no arrest made in the case.
Just last week, Francisco R. Santos was sentenced to a year of imprisonment and was made to pay restitution in the amount of $343,950 plus a fine of $22,500. It was said that Santos has not been paying his taxes for 19 years, but he only pled guilty for the 3-year (2010, 2011, and 2012) tax offense even if he was indicted for a 5-year offense. It was said that Santos can no longer be prosecuted for years 2008 and 2009 even if there are evidences of tax offense against him for those years because the prescription period has already lapsed.
And while Prosecutor Joseph McDonald pushed for 3-year imprisonment, the court decided to be lenient and gave him a 1 year jail sentence instead.
Santos was able to get people to rally behind him (including public officials) and give letters of support to the court, stating among others that he is good man and that he is remorseful of his crimes.
The people of Guam, however, are not happy with the court decision. They say that while Santos may be a good man, he violated the tax law which every Guamanian is trying to comply with. Some cited that their meager tax refunds are even being garnished as payment for their financial obligations with the government. A lot is questioning the equal applicability of the law.
Santos is a high-paid consultant of the Guam International Airport. Despite his indictment, his contract with the airport was not cancelled./The Junction News Team
