Tax remittances

It was interesting to see Del. Jonathan Isechal's proposal to begin taxing remittances from Palau.

People have talked about using taxation as a penalty to keep money circulating locally for years, and I've always thought of it as unfair double taxation. States like Texas and Arizona explored the subject, but evidently backed down after predictably strong opposition by the Mexican government.

The Philippine government? Well, they seem to be doing some skimming on their end with a new tax.

Isechal's bill has some merit, just from the standpoint of policing possible criminal activity and funding the government's supervision. There are a lot of other noble goals stated in the bill, but it's obvious the real motive is revenue generation.

That's where I have a problem: "This will not impact majority of the citizens of the republic," Isechal said. Well, yeah, because by definition the people affected are not likely to be voters and can't fight back.

Ain't got nobody

A parallel came up a few days ago when I rhetorically asked on another blog why the local government hadn't raised the CNMI minimum wage above $3.05 an hour. Most people ignored the question, but one fellow said it was because the federal minimum here was $4.05 and nobody was affected.

Exactly. Nobody who is likely to vote fits into the many exceptions. That's the response I was fishing for, not because I expected any results, but just to provide an uncomfortable reminder.

And most people ignored the question.

Remit me not

The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that three million Latino immigrants have stopped sending money home.

I thought of Saipan immediately.

According to the New York Times "As a result of the difficulties, among immigrants who had been here less than five years, 49 percent said they were thinking of returning home, while 41 percent said they planned to remain in the United States."

Looks like times are tough all over.

Really, I wonder what those figures would be like here.

After thought

The above was a quick post as I was headed out the door.

The article caught my eye because it agrees with what I've been hearing on the street locally. Whipsawed by rising prices, a lot of our visiting workers are having a hard time sending money home. It's a double whammy because the strong Philippine Peso (Bush Dollar) means their families are asking for more.

Maybe a reporter will do another story on CNMI remittances.

Too many people are chasing too few jobs, so there's no security. As in the article, a cushion is needed, and that's another factor in holding back.

The imminent signing of S.2739 is no panacea. That's immigration legislation, it won't affect the job market.

Hope springs eternal

A lot of guest workers are hanging on because they hope long-term employees will get immigrant status. A chimera, in my view, but hey, it never hurts to ask.

Someone who's been here less than five years (or any arbitrary number of years) doesn't even have that hope. That's why I plucked the quote from the story. It matches what short-term employees have been telling me:

“If things don't get better...” (they won't)

“If I can't find another job...” (probably not)

U.S. problems are caused by a recession. We passed that milestone locally a long time ago.