Millard’s $118M tax debt surpasses other NMI government collectibles

Business tycoon William H. Millard’s $118-million tax debt, which is bigger than the CNMI’s budget of $102 million next year, eclipses all other collectibles from many different businesses and individuals totaling $10 million to $15 million.

Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos, who oversees government finances, said yesterday that the government’s other collectibles in unpaid taxes mostly “had to do with just the inability to pay, more than contested or litigated claims.”

He said collecting all the $118 million from the Millards would not be easy.

Inos also said that the Fitial administration has so far not spent a dime in pursuing the collection case because the New York-based law firm Kobre & Kim is tapped on a contingency basis.

“It’s based on success. We haven’t spent a dime on this thing that’s why we’ve got nothing to lose,” he added.

Millard, once listed as among the richest people in America, sold his interests in ComputerLand Corp. retail chain for over $200 million while he and his family were living on Saipan.

“It’s going to take a long time to resolve because like I said, it’s not just the individual. We’re dealing with jurisdictions that are not immediately within our reach… The individual has amassed a wealth that’s spread all over and it’s not that easy to bring them all in one location, one place. Again it’s a work in progress. This is just the start of a major effort,” Inos told reporters after signing a proclamation declaring Sept. 12 to 16 “Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week in the CNMI.”

For more than 20 years, Millard was one of the world’s most elusive tax exiles until New York-based law firm Kobre & Kim—tapped by the Fitial administration—tracked him down on Grand Cayman Island in the western Caribbean.

Inos said tracking Millard down “has been in the work for quite sometime.”

“It’s a complex case because it crosses international jurisdictions because of the location of the assets… So it takes a lot of time to put it together,” he said.

Inos said the Millard issue remains a “collection case.”

“This is a civil matter. This is not a criminal matter, at least not just yet. It’s a collection case and we’re just trying to get what we can get from what we believe is owed. That’s it,” he said.

If the Fitial administration succeeds in collecting from Millard, that money “will not solve our problem but it will at least (solve) some of the issues of the day.”

What Millard owes the government is more than the CNMI government’s projected revenue available for its operations in fiscal year 2012 starting on Oct. 1.

Inos said the administration, through Kobre & Kim, will continue to pursue the case.

He said the administration will “let the process work here because we don’t want to rush this thing to a point where we will lose the whole effort.”

The administration is also trying to identify Millard’s assets on Saipan, including the so-called “castle” that now houses the Marianas Christian Church.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Inos announced on Monday that the government initiated proceedings in the U.S. District Court of the NMI against Willard and his wife Patricia Millard in relation to a $118,043,5353 CNMI income tax claim.

In July 1994, the Commonwealth obtained judgments against Millard in the amount of $18,317,980.80 and against his wife in the amount of $18,318,113.41 for a grand total of $36,636,094.21.

With the accumulation of statutory interest the total value of these two judgments has increased to the current value of $118,043,535.

“The Millards should have paid the initial $36 million in income tax liability when they realized the gain on their stock sale; instead they chose to ignore the tax authority of the Commonwealth,” the governor had said.