Samoa to raise Excise Tax on alcohol

The Attorney General’s Office in Samoa is currently drafting the Alcohol Control Bill 2017 for Cabinet’s approval before it’s tabled in Parliament.

The Bill will contain the new amendment to increase excise tax as recommended by the Samoa Law Reform Commission.

The Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet said after extensive review which included public hearings to garner the viewpoints from stakeholders, the Commission has also recommended for the price of alcohol to be increased through excise tax. 

“However, care should also be taken so that the increase does not render it unsustainable for businesses in the alcohol industry to operate,” continued the recommendation.

“Most notably, the Commission has recommended for the percentage increase of excise tax to correspond with the percentage increase of alcohol content in an alcoholic beverage. Therefore, the higher the alcohol content, the higher the excise tax imposed. The Commission also recommended for the excise tax on low volume alcohol to be reduced to encourage the production of low strength/volume alcohol.”

Minister of Revenue also in charge of the Liquor Control Board, (LCB) Tialavea Fea Leniu Tionisio Hunt agrees noting that information received by the LCB indicates that certain local manufacturers of liquor are not playing by the rules by processing liquor over and above the legal alcohol content.

“The liquor bottles call Maso is one,” Tialavea said.

“Information has it the Maso vodka is selling at under $10 tala for a 7mil bottle. And the contents are extremely potent and can get four or five adults completely intoxicated.”
 

Photo by MPMC. Caption: Minister of Revenue also in charge of the Liquor Control Board, (LCB) Tialavea Fea Leniu Tionisio Hunt