Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no increase in real property tax, liquid fuel tax, business privilege tax or any locally enacted and administered tax on Guam shall go into effect without the approval of the voters of Guam in a referendum held during a general election. The manner in which a proposed tax increase shall be placed in referendum before the voters of Guam pursuant to this Section shall be as follows:

(a) I Liheslaturan Guåhan must pass, in bill form, a proposed tax increase, the effective date to be thirty (30) days after ratification by the voters of Guam in a referendum, such ratification to be certified by the Guam Election Commission. The bill must detail the amount and nature of the proposed increase and the purpose to which such proposed increase shall be applied.

(b) No more than ten (10) days after the bill is enacted into law, the full text of the law shall be transmitted to the Guam Election Commission by the Legislative Secretary of I Liheslaturan Guåhan. The Guam Election Commission shall place before the voters of Guam the question of whether the voters approve or disapprove of the proposed tax increase at the next General Election; provided, that the

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date of transmittal of the proposed tax increase from I Liheslaturan Guåhan to the Guam Election Commission is at least ninety (90) days prior to the date of the next General Election.

(c) The Guam Election Commission shall cause to appear in a daily periodical of mass publication on Guam a full text of the proposed tax increase to be submitted to the voters in referendum pursuant to this Section, at a date no less than thirty (30) days prior to the General Election during which the referendum shall be held. I Liheslaturan Guåhan shall make such provisions as are deemed necessary to provide the public with information necessary to arrive at an informed position with respect to the proposal.

(d) Any submission to the voters made pursuant to this Section shall be treated as an initiative for the purpose of determining the number of votes needed to ratify a proposal placed before the voters pursuant to this Section.

This Section shall not be interpreted as requiring voter ratification of a tax imposed by the government of the United States of America, provided that this Section shall apply upon de-linkage of the Guam income tax from the Federal Internal Revenue Code.

SOURCE: Added by P.L. 24-222:1 (July 29, 1998) as 3 Guam Code Ann. § 17320. Codified by Compiler as § 17311 to maintain the section number sequence within the chapter. Repealed and reenacted to this section by P.L. 31-255:2 (Dec. 11, 2012).