Readers of this blog have surely noticed that I have following developments on the subsidies provided by the US to the tuna canning industry in American Samoa.
Well, the saga continues. According to Samoa News Governor Togiola Tulafono has signed the “tax exemption certificate” for StarKist Samoa. This exemption is from American Samoa’s taxes and it is granted by the Governor of American Samoa on some or all taxes (except for individual income tax) forup to 10 years for the establishment or expansion of qualifying industrial or business enterprises under American Samoa’s “Industrial Incentives Act”.
Also according to the press there were some strings attached to the cerificate, in particular in terms of jobs.
Note that this exemption adds to postponement with for one year, by the U.S. Congress, of federally mandated minimum wage increases, and to extension the “30A” tax benefit for another two years. I will discuss this 30A tax benefit in another post.
Here is the link to the article on this issue in Samoa News.
http://www.samoanews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=22919&edition=1295949600
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