Hagåtña — The Department of Administration will be mailing tax refund checks to 571 families tomorrow.
The Department of Revenue and Taxation printed the checks, which total about $2 million, on Friday. This batch of refunds will complete Status A returns filed on Feb. 5.
Guam has flourished in these last few years. As a government, we continue to meet our financial obligations, which includes paying tax refunds within weeks or months of returns being filed.
GovGuam’s Fiscal Year 2017 shows a more than $20 million surplus, which will continue to reduce what used to be a $350 million cumulative deficit in 2011 to about $80 million.
Local economists said the growth Guam has experienced in these last few years was expected to continue in 2018 – even with the federal lock on the H2B program. And we saw this with the GovGuam revenues for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2018 (December 31, 2017) were on tracking with (and in some areas exceeding) projections.
But the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that took effect in January 2018 and reduced the amount of taxes are paid for business and withholding taxes – causing an anticipated shortfall in tax collections of $67 million. The Legislature and Administration reacted by increasing revenues (BPT went from 4% to 5%) and reducing GovGuam spending ($30 million).
“We continue to keep a close eye on our budget, ensure government operations continue, work to increase investments in Guam, and maintain our obligations to include vendors and tax refunds,” Governor Calvo stated.
