Efforts continued in Washington, D.C., Thursday to make it possible for U.S. tourists visiting the Virgin Islands once again to take cigarettes back home duty free.
Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen pressed for an exemption to the law in the case of the purchase for personal use of cigarettes manufactured in the United States for export but sold in the Virgin Islands. She met Thursday with representatives of the U.S. Customs Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to explore strategies to resolve the issue quickly.
The Source learned earlier this week that cruise ship passengers were being told on board their ships that they would not be allowed to take American tobacco products back home. One retailer estimated that the loss of cigarette sales in the territory could mean a loss to the government of as much as $20 million a year.
"ATF, Customs and a staff member of the Joint Tax Committee assured me that the failure to exempt personal use from the language of this legislation was an oversight when it was included in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 in the haste of closing minutes of the first session of the 105th Congress," Christensen said.
She said the issue impacts on all U.S. duty-free ports, and the Ways and Means Committee leadership, Democratic and Republican, recognizes the problem and is prepared to move a "technical amendment" to reverse the oversight.
"The Treasury secretary also strongly supports the exemption for personal use, which would be the remedy," Christensen said.
"Because of the severe repercussions this will have on our tourism industry," she said, "I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that the legislative solution that is necessary to fix this problem gets passed as soon as it is possible."
Christensen said the law was designed to prohibit the re-importing of cigarettes marked for export for commercial usage, particularly large commercial shipments sent to Mexico. She said Customs Service and ATF officials have told her that they would support allowing individual U.S. residents to return home with "export only" cigarettes acquired for personal use at a U.S. duty-free port.
