The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep Lavea Legaee Mauga, has advised Treasury officials that before the government comes up with new taxes, it should take a good hard look at improving collection of existing taxes.
At a hearing Friday on the bill to update the IRS tax table for local wage earners, Lavea, a former Tax Office employee, said one untapped revenue source was owners of apartments and buildings being rented out.
ASG officials who testified on the bill were Treasurer Ueligitone Tonumaipe’a and Tax Office Manager Vaaimamao Poufa.
Lavea said many home owners were turning their houses into apartments and the government wasn’t collecting any money from the income these landlords were raking in.
The faipule said some of the landlords reside off-island and tenants were just paying rent into their local bank accounts.
He advised that ASG should be more aggressive in collecting taxes as the government needs all the financial help it can get.
