THE number was pretty startling – $8 million lost by the government of Guam each year to tax breaks granted to the insurance industry. The insurance industry? Who knew?

We’ve all heard of the qualifying certificates granted over the years to the hotels, and everybody is pretty much aware that we grant tax breaks for things like liquid fuels, wholesale businesses, agriculture and aquaculture. You probably weren’t aware that QCs are also made available to some manufacturing, commercial fishing, Guam-based trusts and even small business entities operating on a military base. But insurance?

Judging by some of the numbers being tossed around here lately in the ongoing Obamacare debate, the insurance businesses on Guam don’t sound very needy. They seem to be doing pretty well. The government of Guam, on the other hand, is in the dumpster. It doesn’t seem we can afford to be as generous as we’ve been in the past with our tax holidays and QCs.

One insurance company even found a way to pay some big dividends to its shareholders, rather than return that money to its customers. It was all perfectly legal, we’re sure, but by golly couldn’t they at least pay their GRT?

According to Sen. Dennis Rodriquez, the $8 million in assessed revenue loss from our generosity with insurance companies represented the gross receipts tax alone. His office analyzed the data for 2007 to 2011. Income and property taxes – also rebated under most QCs – aren’t even figured in that total.

We think it’s about time the senators, who seem to have trouble coming up with ideas that will produce more revenue for the government, consider suspending or completely revoking all existing tax breaks for all categories of business. Tell them sorry, but we can no longer afford to be so generous. If that would violate contracts that may be in place, then do not renew any of these sweetheart deals. When they come up for renewal, say thank you very much but now, pay your taxes.

The trouble with GovGuam tax policy under the longstanding qualifying certificate program is that it was conceived when Guam needed to stimulate investment and encourage local job creation. Those were noble goals in 1965, and they often were achieved. But a lot of companies got away with not paying taxes while not really doing very much for local workers. And we just cannot afford to offer those tax breaks anymore.

So we say suspend or revoke them all. That will include some sacred cows, like wholesale businesses, but they should all pay at least the GRT, which is after all a business privilege tax. If you have a business here, no matter what sort of business, you need to pay for the privilege of having a business on Guam. Pay up. Your government needs the revenue.