Extension of 936 tax provision will be topic at IGIA annual meeting
February 13, 2006

by Fili Sagapolutele

Samoa News Correspondent

The federal Interagency Group on Insular Areas (IGIA) will hold its annual meeting on February 28 at the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in Washington, according to DOI's deputy assistant secretary for Insular Areas Papali'i David B. Cohen.

The meeting is timed to coincide with the National Governors' Association Winter Meeting at the Nation's capital towards the end of February.

Cohen said last Friday from Washington that all of the governors and Members of Congress from American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have been invited to the IGIA meeting, and will be given a brief opportunity to address the meeting.

"The annual meeting is intended to allow elected representatives from the territories to present their concerns to representatives of the federal government," Cohen told Samoa News. "We are awaiting input from the territorial representatives, which we will use to formulate the agenda."

Cohen said he expects Gov. Togiola Tulafono and Congressman Faleomavaega Eni will want to discuss the extension of IRS Section 936, "and they will certainly have the opportunity to do so."

"[Department of] Interior has been in contact with Congress recently and we have stressed the Bush Administration's support for an extension of Section 936," said Cohen.

Togiola said recently that he will be attending meetings in Washington later this month and among the issues for discussion is extension of Section 936.

The extension is included in the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005.

According to a press release from Aumua Amata Coleman, the U.S. Senate passed the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act but excluded the section 936 extension provision. She states that on Feb. 8, the U.S. House rejected the Senate amendment and requested a conference committee.

Amata said, "The question is: how hard will House conferees fight for the one year extension of the Section 936 provision for American Samoa, and how hard will the Senate conferees oppose it, all of which is affected by politics of tax and spending cut legislation in an election year. Let us keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, for the sake of the people and economy of American Samoa."

The U.S. House appointed last week its five conferees while the U.S. Senate is expected to name theirs this week. No date is confirmed yet on when a conference committee will convene to review the federal legislation.

The tax credit expired in Dec. 31, 2005 while the issue remains pending in Congress.

Reach the reporter at fili@samoanews.com