Breaking

9-Year-Old Boy Dies After Being Shot in Head in Croixville Housing Community; Police Detain 15-Year-Old

Concerned Residents Clean Christiansted Town Using Their Own Tools, Money, and Some Help from the VI Fire Service

Territory May See Veterans Cemetery Through DeGazon-Sponsored Bill

Credit and Debit Cards of WAPA Customers Were Compromised Since August 30th, WAPA Says, Authority to Finally Start Issuing Notification Via Mail and Email

Sports Tourism in VI Gains Momentum as DC United Team is set to Play Exhibition Soccer Game on St. Croix

Carnival Breeze Brings 3,700 Tourists to St. Croix During Maiden Call; Senators, Tourism Officials Want to See More

Limetree Bay Willing To Provide $10 Million To Help Add Life to a Dying G.E.R.S.

American Airlines to Serve St. Croix With New Flights Next Summer

The Sudden Death of Influential Roots Reggae Visionary, Vaughn Benjamin of Midnite Band and Akae Beka, Has Rocked the Virgin Islands and Reggae Community Around the World

Arthur A. Richards K-8 School Hosts Anti-Bullying Campaign

Come Out. Hang Out. Have Fun at The Meat Up, One of St. Thomas’ Latest Hot-Spot for Good Food with Friends and Family.

UVI Board of Trustees Approves $47.1 Million Fiscal Year 2020 Budget; Sets $3 Million Fundraising Goal

Man Dies During Early Morning Car Accident on St. Croix; Driver of Car Arrested (Updated)

'You Did Everything You Could to Prevent this from Happening': An Emotional Goodbye to Young Aaron Benjamin

Back in Business: Cost U Less on St. Thomas Opened its Doors Friday to Thousands of Customers 2 Years after Irma and Maria

Bill Aimed at Regulating Credit Use by Gov't Departments and Agencies Among Others Held in Committee

Juan Luis Hospital Announces Completion and Availability of Mobile Dialysis Facilities

Tractor Trailer With Tank Carrying Thousands Of Gallons of Liquified Gas Flips Near Cool Out Bar; Driver Injured But Alive

Credit and Debit Card Hack Through WAPA Appears to be Widespread in Virgin Islands; WAPA Says Support Services Will be Made Available to Affected Customers

Facing Life in Prison Without Parole, Mother and Boyfriend Plead Not Guilty in Murder of 4-Year-Old Boy

USVI Receives $258 Million In Rum Cover-Over Funds From U.S. Treasury

Business / Featured / News / Top Stories / Virgin Islands / September 5, 2019

U.S. Dept. of Interior Assistant Secretary Doug Domenech announced this week that Interior will be signing over $258,375,000 to the USVI in rum tax cover-over payments for the estimated FY 2020 rum tax collections.

The territory has received roughly the same amount in recent years, most of which is used to pay the territory’s bondholders. Guam received $69,928,937 for federal income tax advance payments under Section 30 of the Organic Act of Guam for fiscal year 2020.

“These funds are important to Guam and the Virgin Islands governments and my team at the Office of Insular Affairs always works hard to ensure the funds are transferred as quickly as they are available,” Mr. Domenech said. “I expect the funds to be available by next week.”

According to Interior, under the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 USC 1541), any excise tax collected on USVI manufactured rum imported into the United States is transferred to or “covered-over” to the USVI. The USVI government submits an advance estimate of rum excise taxes to the Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) on an annual basis so that a payment can be made in September of each fiscal year. Any adjustments necessary are calculated and paid later based upon amounts advanced from rum excise taxes derived from the USVI and actual receipts collected by the federal government.

Part of Governor Albert Bryan’s messaging during the 2018 gubernatorial campaign was to attract additional rum companies to the USVI so that the local government could receive more rum cover-over dollars to help stave off collapse of the Government Employees’ Retirement System and other struggling government arms.

“Let’s face it, even if we give up half of the revenues, we’re still going to make 40 to 50 million dollars. Forty to fifty million is enough money for us to secure another loan that would secure the G.E.R.S. and make it solvent again for a number of years,” Mr. Bryan said during an interview with The Consortium at an event at Gertrude’s Restaurant announcing then-Senator Tregenza Roach as his running mate.

But during an interview with The Consortium on May 23, Mr. Bryan said his administration was in talks with boutique rum companies, not the major operations that would result in enough revenue to make a difference.

“We’re actually talking to some boutique rum companies; they don’t produce a whole lot of revenue, but the revenues may be able to allow us to get hotel rooms, and that’s all I’ll say for now,” Mr. Bryan said. “We have some conversations going but not big enough to have the kind of impact on what we’re trying to do to get that funding source for G.E.R.S.”

The major campaign promise, it appears, is not panning out the way Mr. Brayn had hoped. But the governor spoke of a backup: With the law allowing the sale of marijuana for medical use now on the books — signed by Mr. Bryan himself — the governor has been working on a plan to extract tax dollars from the industry, once setup, and use it to help G.E.R.S.

“We got a big announcement coming in terms of funding. We’re going to be looking at the cannabis bill, and we’re going to be doing some of the things in terms of revenue generation that I talked about [on the campaign trail]. We’ve been having some good conversations with some attorneys on the legalities of some of the things that we want to do. So look for that within the next four to six weeks,” the governor said.

The governor’s plans appear to have been delayed, as it’s been over three months and an announcement has yet to be made.






Ernice Gilbert
I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at [email protected].




Previous Post

IEKHS Students Were the Toast Of St. Thomas With Unveiling Of Their FAITH Video With The 12 Miles Up Program

Next Post

Lt. Governor Roach Announces Payments To Real Legacy Assurance Claimants Of Up To $50,000 Per Claimant



Leave a Reply


More Story

IEKHS Students Were the Toast Of St. Thomas With Unveiling Of Their FAITH Video With The 12 Miles Up Program

ST. THOMAS -- They took to the red carpet spotlight with 1,000-watt smiles and warming greetings for the friends, family,...

September 5, 2019