The promises
- No sign yet
No income tax on the first SAT$20,000 a year
Threshold still SAT$15,000; the May 2026 budget kept income-tax rates unchanged.
Good for aigaRead more
- Promised
- Raise the tax-free PAYE threshold from SAT$15,000 to SAT$20,000 a year 23. The manifesto, launched in Salelologa on Saturday 12 July 2025 as a 2025/2030 programme, said tax exemptions would lift take-home pay to SAT$770 a fortnight in the SAT$20,000 salary bracket 1. No start date was given 12.
- What happened
- No change by 20 October 2026. The 2026/27 budget address, published 27 May 2026, said the current VAGST and income-tax rates would be maintained 4. The Ministry for Revenue still publishes nil tax up to SAT$15,000, 20% on SAT$15,001 to SAT$25,000 and 27% above SAT$25,000 5.
- Impact on families
- No worker has received a saving from this promise 5. If enacted, someone earning SAT$20,000 would stop paying 20% on the SAT$5,000 between the old and new thresholds, about SAT$1,000 a year; the government has published no costing or recipient estimate 5. What would show delivery: an Income Tax Amendment Act and a new rate schedule on revenue.gov.ws.
- Cost
- Not costed by FAST. Our estimate: at most about SAT$29m a year (SAT$1,000 for each of the 28,616 formal jobs the budget counted), about 2% of 2026/27 receipts of SAT$1,284.7m.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who gains
- Formal-sector workers earning SAT$15,000 to SAT$25,000 and above, up to SAT$1,000 a year each, within a formal workforce of about 28,616 jobs 45.
- Who pays
- The budget forgoes up to about SAT$29m a year while running a deficit, and workers outside formal employment, a quarter of the employed on SBS's 2022 measure, get nothing 46.
- Assessment
- Affordable: even if every one of the 28,616 formal jobs counted in December 2025 saved the full SAT$1,000, the cost would be about SAT$29m, about 2% of the SAT$1,284.7m receipts budgeted for 2026/27, which already carries a stated SAT$215.9m cash deficit 4. The saving is capped at the same tala amount for everyone above SAT$20,000, so as a share of income it is worth most to the lower-paid 5. It misses people outside formal work: SBS's 2022 labour force survey counted 53,135 employed people, 25.3% of them in informal employment, against the 28,616 formal jobs the budget counted in December 2025 64; poverty is 16.5% in rural areas against 8.9% in towns 7, and our reasoning is that formal jobs sit mostly in town. The IMF said support should be targeted and temporary 8.
Sources (8)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Landslide Win for Laaulialemalietoa as FAST looks Certain to be Samoa’s next Government
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Rates – Ministry of Revenue
- 2022 Samoa Labour Force and Child Labour Survey
- Samoa Monetary Poverty Assessment 2023
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- No sign yet
Cut the top PAYE rate from 27% to 23%
Top rate still 27%; no bill tabled. Reaches only people earning over SAT$25,000, and the gain grows with income.
Costs aigaRead more
- Promised
- Reduce the top personal income-tax rate from 27% to 23% 13. Talamua reported the same package as tax exemptions for workers 2. No start date was given 12.
- What happened
- Not enacted. The 2026/27 budget address, published 27 May 2026, said current income-tax rates would be maintained 4. The Ministry for Revenue still lists 27% as the rate above SAT$25,000 5.
- Impact on families
- No saving verified 5. The cut would reach only earners above SAT$25,000 a year, which excludes anyone on the minimum wage of SAT$5.24 an hour from 1 July 2026 56. No costing or count of affected taxpayers has been published. What would show delivery: an amended rate schedule in force.
- Cost
- Not costed. Applies only to income above SAT$25,000; no count of those taxpayers or of the revenue lost has been published.
- Verdict for families
- Costs aiga
- Can it be done?
- A stretch
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who gains
- Higher earners only: four cents less tax on every tala above SAT$25,000, so the most to those paid the most 5.
- Who pays
- Every other household, through a larger deficit or services unfunded, while workers on SAT$5.24 an hour get nothing 46.
- Assessment
- The cut applies only to income above SAT$25,000 a year, so the gain rises with income and a minimum-wage worker on SAT$5.24 an hour gets nothing 56. The 2026/27 budget plans a SAT$215.9m cash deficit and relies on tax revenue rising 17%, so a top-rate cut would have to be covered by other taxes, borrowing or services going without 4. The IMF said support should be targeted and temporary 7. A lower top rate might help keep skilled workers who leave for work overseas, but no source measures that, and a cut at the top while the budget is in deficit shifts money upward.
Sources (7)
- Landslide Win for Laaulialemalietoa as FAST looks Certain to be Samoa’s next Government
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Rates – Ministry of Revenue
- Employment services | Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- No sign yet
Cut company tax from 27% to 23%
Company rate still 27%; the government chose concessional loans instead of a rate cut. A cut would go to profitable firms while the budget is in deficit.
Costs aigaRead more
- Promised
- Reduce the company income-tax rate from 27% to 23% 23. Talamua called it the employers' income tax, Samoa Global News the corporate tax 12. No date was given 12.
- What happened
- Not enacted. The 2026/27 budget address, published 27 May 2026, said current income-tax rates would be maintained 4. The Ministry for Revenue still publishes 27% for resident companies 5. The 2026/27 budget instead scaled the Concessional Lending Facility for manufacturing, commercial agriculture and tourism up from SAT$10 million to SAT$15 million and reported 30 businesses helped by an earlier SAT$13 million channelled through the Development Bank of Samoa 4.
- Impact on families
- No business has paid less tax under this promise 5. Any effect on families would be indirect, through jobs and prices, and none has been measured. What would show delivery: an Income Tax Amendment Act changing the company rate.
- Cost
- Not costed. No published figure for company-tax receipts or for the revenue a four-point cut would lose.
- Verdict for families
- Costs aiga
- Can it be done?
- A stretch
- Long term
- Too early to tell
- Who gains
- Profitable companies, mostly the larger ones, keep four tala in every hundred of profit they now pay in tax 5.
- Who pays
- Taxpayers and public services, through a budget already SAT$215.9m in deficit; the loss is uncosted 4.
- Assessment
- Neither FAST nor the government has put a figure on the revenue lost, and the 2026/27 budget plans a SAT$215.9m cash deficit while counting on tax revenue rising 17% 4. The IMF does not name the tax rate as the main brake on business: it says small firms' borrowing is held back by limited collateral, incomplete financial records and weak capacity to prepare feasibility studies, while banks hold ample liquidity 6. A four-point cut helps firms already making profits, mostly larger ones, and any effect on jobs or prices is indirect and unmeasured; a tax cut for business while the budget borrows is paid by families through services or debt.
Sources (6)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Landslide Win for Laaulialemalietoa as FAST looks Certain to be Samoa’s next Government
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Rates – Ministry of Revenue
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- No sign yet
Remove VAGST and import duties on essential goods
VAGST still 15% on food; the May 2026 budget kept it. Prices rose 5.8% in the year to June 2026. Relief would go to every household, not just those in need.
Cuts both waysRead more
- Promised
- Remove VAGST and import duties on certain essentials 1; Coconet's election explainer named rice, sugar and baby formula 2. Sources differ on wording: RNZ reported VAT exemptions on essential goods, while a Samoa Observer comparison wrote simply "remove GST" 34. No full list, rate or date was given 13.
- What happened
- No exemption enacted. The 2026/27 budget address, published 27 May 2026, said the current VAGST rate would be maintained 5. The Ministry for Revenue still publishes 15% VAGST on goods and services, with ad valorem duty rates mainly 5%, 8% or 20% 6. The commerce ministry's Price Control Order 2026 covers staples such as rice, sugar, flour, milk, tinned fish and chicken legs, but a price ceiling is not a tax exemption 7.
- Impact on families
- No household has had VAGST or duty removed on these goods 6. Meanwhile prices rose: SBS reported the CPI up 5.8% in June 2026 on June 2025, with transport the largest contributor, while average annual inflation was 1.4% 9; the IMF reported the same figures 8. SBS reported 3.4% year-on-year CPI inflation in September 2026 10. What would show delivery: a VAGST amendment or customs order listing the goods, and a fall in SBS food-price indices.
- Cost
- Not costed by FAST. No list of goods was published, so the VAGST and duty revenue forgone cannot be estimated.
- Verdict for families
- Cuts both ways
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who gains
- Every household that buys the named staples, poor or not; the poor gain most as a share of income, the better-off most in tala 11.
- Who pays
- The budget loses VAGST and duty revenue for good, and shops may keep part of the cut rather than lower prices 57.
- Assessment
- FAST published no list or costing, so the revenue forgone is unknown 1; a short list of staples would be a small share of VAGST revenue, but nobody can say how small. The cut goes to every household alike, while 15.2% of people are below the basic-needs line and 4.4% below the food-poverty line, so most of the tala forgone go to families who are not poor 11; the IMF said support should be targeted and temporary, and the World Bank advised tightly targeted and bounded support for vulnerable households facing energy and food prices 812. Shops need not pass the full 15% on, these staples are already price-capped under the Price Control Order 2026 7, and each exemption narrows the VAGST base the budget depends on 5, so the gain to poor families is real but smaller than it looks and the revenue loss is permanent.
Sources (12)
- All you need to know about the Sāmoa 2025 general elections
- Samoa's 2025 General Election Explained
- Samoa election: Political parties make big promises on health, welfare and economy
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Rates – Ministry of Revenue
- Consumer protection | Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- Consumer Price Index June 2026
- Samoa Bureau of Statistics
- Samoa Monetary Poverty Assessment 2023
- Pacific Economic Update, May 2026
What FAST did in 2021 to 2025
- 1 November 2021Kept
The 2021/22 budget address of 14 September 2021 promised 20% cuts to electricity and water prices from 1 November 2021 and to selected government fees: private vehicle registration, business licences, national examination fees, Lands and Titles Court fees, National Hospital consultation fees, alia licences, passport fees and building permits 1. Vehicle registration fees fell 20% on 1 November 2021 2. EPC cut its domestic prepaid tariff from 1 November 2021, replacing SAT$0.65 and SAT$0.79 per unit with a flat SAT$0.73; its notice named domestic prepaid consumers only, though its general manager said every customer would benefit 3. The Regulator's order recording the Cabinet directive for a 20% cut took effect on 1 December 2021, so the sources differ on the electricity date 4. Water tariffs for all customers fell 20% from November 2021 5. Upolu to Savai‘i passenger ferry fares fell 20% from 15 November 2021, vehicles excluded 6.
Sources (6)
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Cost of Vehicle Registrations Decrease by 20% Effective 01 November 2021
- All consumers to benefit from tariff cut, says E.P.C. chief
- Change in Tariffs Associated with Energy Charge Review
- Water Accounts Samoa, 2021-22
- Samoa Shipping Corporation Announces 20% Drop in Passenger Fares
- 12 November 2021Kept
Income tax on church ministers, introduced by the previous government in 2018, was removed as FAST's election promise 2. The Income Tax Amendment Bill 2021 was tabled in December 2021 3; the Income Tax Amendment Act 2022, No. 5, repealed the minister-of-religion provisions, with commencement recorded as 12 November 2021 in the revised Act 1.
Sources (3)
- Income Tax Act 2012
- Samoa govt keen to repeal controversial law taxing church ministers
- Speaker swears in seven new Members of Parliament
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
Prices and poverty over the term: SBS reported 2.2% average inflation for the year ending December 2024 1; the IMF put 2024/25 average inflation at 1.8% and real GDP growth at 4.2% 2. The SBS 2023 survey found 15.2% of people below the basic-needs poverty line and 4.4% below the food-poverty line, but changed methods limit comparison with the 21.9% estimate for 2018 3. The published income-tax and VAGST rates date from 2018 and earlier; neither changed in the term 4.
Sources (4)
- Consumer Price Index December 2024
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- Samoa Monetary Poverty Assessment 2023
- Rates – Ministry of Revenue