Duty-Free "Club"

American Samoa

Joins The

A special session of American Samoa’s legislature rushed through a bill in late May to make the territory a “duty-free port”—to use Governor H. Rex Lee’s words—from June 1.

THE legislature hurried the bill through so the new regulations would be in force by the time the heavy annual influx of tourists began arriving by mid-year.

Basically, the new bill allows in duty free a lot of goods like cameras, transistors and radios, which will en courage more visitors to visit American Samoa to pick up such goods at low prices, as in Fiji.

But American Samoa is in no sense a free port like Hong Kong, because, while import duties have been scrapped on all goods, many items previously carrying import duties now carry excise duties, which in most cases, are as stringent as the import duties.

American Samoa, with a handsome subsidy from the US each year and rising revenue from its fish canning works, does not have to rely as heavily upon import duties for revenue as most other South Pacific territories.

"Progressive legislation"

Governor Lee said after he had signed the duty-free bill into law on May 27 that the bill was “the realisa tion of a long-standing desire” to make American Samoa a duty-free port.

The Governor signed nine other bills into law at the same time in a special televised ceremony. Thanking legislators present for their “very progressive legislation,” Governor Lee said the new laws would boost the territory’s economy, lower the cost of living, and promote greater government efficiency for the collect ive benefit of the people of American Samoa.

The bill making American Samoa a duty-free port states that the Governor is authorised to re-impose any import duty that existed pre viously if he determines that the level of retail prices for the reduced articles have not been reduced to the extent warranted by the abolition of duties.

The excise duties which have been

imposed on items previously carryin import duties are: • Light alcoholic liquors, ir eluding beer, wine and ale; ma] extract, tobacco products and smol ing accessories (100 per cent, excis tax). • Firearms and firearms ammuni tion (75 per cent.). • Motor bicycles, trucks and con: mercial vehicles (including taxis' motor vehicles for commercial us weighing more than 4,600 lb, an parts and accessories for all moto vehicles (25 per cent.). • Motor bicycles and automobile imported for personal or family us (10 per cent.).

Various excise duties are also pa> able on petroleum products, certai: construction materials, carbonate* soft drinks and other drinks.

Among the other bills signed int< law by Governor Lee is one whid imposes an excise tax of 30 per cent (of either the price or the fai market value) on second-hand moto vehicles, second-hand machinery, am second-hand household appliance that are imported for resale in Ame rican Samoa.

This tax does not apply to second hand items imported strictly fo personal use, but the tax will h levied if such items are sold withh one year of their importation int< the territory.

The purpose of the bill, which i known as the Junk Bill, is to dis courage the loading up of Americai Samoa with second-hand merchandise A third bill provides punishmen for the possession of discarded o “junked” vehicle bodies.

The bill is designed “to keep Ame rican Samoa clean and thereby pro mote tourism”.

Anyone possessing a “junked’ vehicle, (i.e. one that is incapabh of being licensed for operation ii the territory) can be given 10 day! to get rid of it. Failure to do so aftei 10 days makes one liable to a fine of not less than $lO, up to a maxi mum of $5OO, for every day there after that the vehicle is left in it; original position.

Governor Lee also signed into law a bill designed to break the mono poly of the Standard Oil Company of California in the distribution and storage of petroleum products in American Samoa.

Standard Oil received a lease in 1956—at what Governor Lee called “absurdly low rates”—to operate the government-owned petroleum storage near Pago Pago for up to 50 years.

“This bill is our attempt to lower those prices through fair competi tion,” he said.