[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 187 (Wednesday, November 15, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H9261-H9262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TAX PLAN IS HARMFUL FOR GUAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Guam (Ms. Bordallo) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my opposition to 
H.R. 1, the Republican tax plan, and the negative impacts it would have 
on my constituents in Guam.
  This bill is an attack on the middle class and would do very little 
to help those who most need tax relief. I am especially concerned that 
H.R. 1 does not take into account the unique application of the Federal 
Tax Code to Guam and the other U.S. territories.

[[Page H9262]]

  Unlike the 50 States who have control of their tax system, Guam is 
required to mirror the income tax portion of the Federal Internal 
Revenue Code, and any changes to the IRC would have a direct impact not 
only on taxes paid by my constituents, but also on the general fund 
revenues collected by the government of Guam.
  Under the current framework, it is the United States Congress, not 
the Guam Legislature or any other elected body on Guam, that sets the 
income tax provisions for our territory. Any changes to the Internal 
Revenue Code are automatically mirrored and adopted as changes to 
Guam's local tax structure.
  This does not give Guam the ability to decide for itself the best tax 
structure for the people of Guam. It applies decisions made for the 
Nation as a whole, with more than 320 million citizens, to 
significantly different demographics on our island of just 170,000 
Americans.
  Even more outrageous, Mr. Speaker, is that Republicans will have 
brought this bill to the floor without any opportunity for the 
Delegates from the territories to affect it or express our support or 
opposition through a recorded vote.
  As the Speaker knows, as a Delegate from a territory, along with the 
other four territories and D.C., we are not able to vote on amendments 
on the floor of this House, nor are we able to cast a vote on the final 
passage of a bill.
  Some on the other side will argue, especially since H.R. 1 is a tax 
bill, that the Delegates--therefore, the more than 4 million American 
citizens who live in the territories--should not be able to vote on the 
bills considered by this House because our constituents do not pay 
taxes to the Federal Treasury.

                              {time}  1045

  But this ignores the sacrifices that the sons and daughters of Guam 
and the other territories make to defend our country through military 
service, as well as the fact that my constituents pay other Federal 
taxes that support Federal programs like Social Security and Medicare.
  Importantly, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1 will have a direct impact on my 
constituents because of the Federal Government's requirement for the 
government of Guam to mirror the Internal Revenue Code. This will 
directly impact the rates, deductions, and credits paid by Guam tax 
filers and, unlike the States, will also directly correspond to the 
revenues collected by our territorial government.
  This, Mr. Speaker, is the very definition of taxation without 
representation.
  So I cannot support the Republican tax plan because it ignores the 
impacts it would have on my constituents in Guam and the other 
territories, and it prevents the people of Guam from having a say, 
through their own representative in both the House and the Senate, in 
its development.
  I oppose, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1, and I urge my colleagues to defeat it. 
Vote ``no.''

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