The meeting was chaired by Federated States of Micronesia Vice President Alik Alik and attended by all four state governors.
Dohsis Halbert, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the FSM Congress, also participated in the meeting as an observer.
The objective of this meeting is to continue to discuss and reach agreement on constitutional, legal, and other policy issues related to the proposed creation of a Uniform Revenue Authority to administer the taxes of all five FSM governments.
In particular, the meeting focused on two issues: 1) funding for the URA; and 2) VAT refunds and URA banking.
Leading up to the meeting, a technical group comprised of finance and legal officers from the FSM national government and the state governments met.
At the end of its two-day meeting the technical group reached agreement on the draft URA legislation as embodying its policy recommendations.
During its meeting, the committee adopted the draft URA legislation recommended by the technical group which includes language relating to VAT refunds and URA funding.
Alik reinforced the administration’s commitment to the tax reforms and assured the governors that the administration will continue to work with the FSM Congress on the proposed approach for funding the URA.
Going forward, the technical group will undertake review of the remaining draft legislation relating to the tax reforms.
The technical group will have 30 days to complete its review and finalize its recommendations on all of the remaining draft legislation in time for the next meeting, tentatively planned to take place in June.
