Ads by Google Ads by Google

Community Briefs

FIFTH BATCH OF LOCAL TAX REFUNDS RELEASED

ASG Treasury released the fifth batch of local tax refunds totaling $1.3 million on Thursday.

The new batch of refunds covers those who filed up to Jan. 31, Tax Office manager Melvin Joseph said yesterday.

$459,017 of Thursday's batch was paid by local funds and $849,491 for the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), funded by the US Internal Revenue Service.

To date, $3.58 million — $1.31 million in local and $2.27 million for ACTC — has been released since early January said Joseph, adding that the Tax Office has so far processed 2,462 tax returns for tax year 2011.

VOTER REGISTRATION ROLL AROUND 15,000

More than 500 people have either registered as new voters or re-registered since the last election in 2010 reports the Election Office in their first quarter performance report for FY 2012 covering Oct.1-Dec. 31, 2011 .

“The official roll is now at about 15,000 voters” at the end of the first quarter, states the report. Furthermore, the Election Office expects the voter roll “to increase as more and more people are coming in to get their new ID cards.”

Chief Election Officer Soliai Tuipine Fuimaono told Samoa News this week the Election Office has already launched their voter registration campaign with the goal to attract new voters — especially those who turn 18 years old before the Nov. 6 general election — and those voters whose names were purged last year from the voter roll for failing to vote in the last two elections,  to re-register to vote.

The performance report states that only new registered voters and those with expired identification cards will be issued the new voter ID card, which is similar to a driver’s license and in compliance with federal regulations. The old voter ID card will still be used in the upcoming election until it is expired.