Virgin Islands legislators and Government Employees’ Retirement System officials were in Washington, D.C., with Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett to present the territory’s concerns to members of the powerful Ways and Means Committee this week, Plaskett’s office said late Wednesday.
The private meetings covered expiring 2017 tax cuts, rum cover-over shortfalls, Supplemental Security Income, excise taxes, customs, tax incentive programs, and more, Plaskett’s office said.
Postponing a Housing, Transportation and Telecommunications committee meeting originally scheduled for Wednesday, Sen. Marvin Blyden called the meet up an emergency.
The Virgin Islands delegation includes GERS Chairman Dwane Callwood, GERS Administrator Angel Dawson, Senate President Milton Potter, Blyden, Sen. Novelle Francis Jr., and Sen. Kurt Vialet, Plaskett said. They met with a bipartisan group of influential House of Representatives members, including Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas), Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Illinois), Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada), Tom Suozzi (D-New York), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania).
The rum cover-over money — the excise tax collected on rum imported into the U.S. that is then transferred back to or “covered-over” to the territory — is used to fund GERS and can fluctuate. In fiscal year 2023, the rate was calculated at $10.50 per proof-gallon, down from the $13.25 per-proof gallon rate that expired at the end of 2021.
“I would like to thank both my Democratic and Republican colleagues for taking the time to hear firsthand about the impacts of federal policy decisions on our community,” Plaskett said in a written statement. “I look forward to our continued collaboration on this matter.”
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. had been kept in the dark about the meeting, Government House said. Bryan is scheduled to fly to Washington next week for meetings of the Interagency Group on Insular Areas and the National Governors Association.
