Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International’s gaming revenue tax holiday may be coming to an end, if some local politicians have their way.

Last week, Paul Manglona, a senator in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), sent an open letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, criticizing the government’s decision to impose austerity measures to alleviate a $26m deficit in the CNMI’s budget for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018.

One of Manglona’s chief questions for Torres was an explanation for the “drastic decrease” in business gross revenue tax (BGRT) paid by IPI, Saipan’s lone casino operator. IPIs BGRT payments since last October total a mere $41k, down from $43.6m in fiscal 2018 and $67.7m in 2017. Manglona asked if IPI was being allowed to use its significant bad debt write-offs to reduce its income for calculating BGRT payments.

This spring, IPI CEO Mark Brown told the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) that IPI’s BGRT payments had decreased based on the company’s belief that it was owed “credits” due to having overpaid its BGRT in previous years. Brown told local media that once these credits were exhausted “then we will go back to continue paying what’s due.”