28 Mar 2015

American Samoa businesses face fee hikes

6:03 pm on 28 March 2015

Business licence fees in American Samoa could increase by as much as 50 to 90 percent if a proposed bill is passed into law.

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says it has been over 50 years since business licence fees were originally imposed, and he feels a substantial revision is in order.

He says aside from the need to enhance government revenue, a significant number of licences in the territory are issued annually for businesses that purport to never engage in any business related to the licence.

Lolo says the government is proposing to set the annual licence fee for most businesses at US$250.