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Brooks stages lone protest to demand rebate’s release
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Posted on Dec 07 2011
By Clarissa David
Reporter
Reporter
An outgoing Koblerville Elementary School student teacher and former teacher aide staged a solitary protest near the Division of Revenue and Taxation office in Dandan yesterday, urging the office to expedite the release of his tax return.
“Just give me my tax return,” Keith Brooks, who held a cardboard sign that stated, “I need my tax return now,” told Saipan Tribune in an interview.
Brooks staged his protest along the road since he may be arrested if he did it right outside the division as the building sits on a private lot.
The Dandan resident, who is expecting some $1,500 on his 2010 tax rebate, said he already wrote to the division a month ago asking for the immediate release of the check due to “personal reasons that the division is made aware of.”
But Brooks said the division did not respond in writing nor did it return the numerous phone calls he made.
Brooks, who is originally from Las Vegas, said even his previous tax return “took 18 months to get to me.”
The lack of response from the division, Brooks said, prompted him to seek the assistance of the office of the lieutenant governor.
“I had to get the lieutenant governor’s office involved. They’re trying to call the division daily but they won’t respond or answer the phone,” he said.
Being a student teacher for three months, Brooks said his savings was used for his daily subsistence. Now he only has $300 in his bank account.
Brooks disclosed that he also plans to stage a protest at the Department of Finance office on Capital Hill.
According to Brooks, a lot of people talked to him or gave him a thumbs-up sign during his one-hour protest yesterday. One woman even offered him a ride to Garapan, he added.
Asked how long he will stage these solitary protests, Brooks replied, “Until I starve to death or get my tax money.”
Brooks urged other community members, especially those with emergency reasons, to ask for their tax rebates and refunds.
