USVI Public Records

Document text

t €rotx cti& WEDNESDAY, JULY U, 2019, NO. 170 75 BRANDY BROOKES sr. CROIX —0ev. Albert Biyan Jr. outlined the work being done at the USVI Economic Development Authority and his adminishafion’s plan for get ting the economy back up and nmnlng during a news conference on Tuesday. The USVI Economic Development Authority (EDA) held a press conference on Tuesday. in order to share the find ings of a 2019 Economic Impact Analy sts Report for its Economic Develop ment Commission Tax Incentive Program. The conference took place at Govern ment House in Chrisliansted and was attended by Bryan and Sen. Allison Degazon who serves as chairwoman of the Committee on Economic Develop- ment and Agriculture. Kamal latham, chief exeçutlve,offlcer of the EDA, shared a summar3t cf thw findings. . .‘• •‘ We are on the cusp of an ecbn2uilc renaissance and we ha. q greatjDt tunity to move forward and grow th$ economy ta create mqre etoxgrnricvalui,’.. :ç.’.[I I UI’ 4 .1 Brandy Brookes Chief ExeaiUve Officer of the VI. Economic DevelopmentAuthodty, Kamal Latham (right), shared details of an economic impact analy s4s report on the Economic Devekpment Commision’s tax incentive program at a conference at Government House on Tuesday. Lath- am was joined by 0ev. Albert Bryan Jr. (left) who spoke on the current administration’s economic development strategy. Attracting companies bigb on Bryan’s agenda Bryan: 89 people paid 66percent ofthe VI taxes BRYAN, PAGE 5 ----I “HI Vtfl2LIfl3\AI WEDNESDAY, JutY 244 2019 LUi& •,lt the BRYAN: FROM PAGE 1 for the people here in the territo ry,” he said. Using data obtained from the ED& the University of the Virgin Islands In collaboration with Appleseed, the., a New York-based finn providing economic impact analyses, and economic develop ment studies, independently aria lyzed the direct, indirect and Induced tinpact of beneficiaries of the Virgin Islands Economic Development Commission’s (EDC) tax incentive programs on the ter ritory’s economy in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The results of this data Indi cate that during this three-year time span, the EDC program resulted in $9.6 mil in charitable contributions, $309,446.2 13 in taxes and duties, nearly $1,017,011,000 in wages and salaries; and more than $1,480,968,000 in territory-wide economic output. According to the data Included in the report, for every dollar that is foregone in tax revenue as a result of the program, it creates two dollars in economic output to the territory. EDC beneficiaries receive vari ous tax incentives, however, EDC company operations do still gen erate tax revenues for the gov ernment, Iatham said. Beneficiary incentives include a 90 percent reduction In corpo rate Income tax, 90 percent reduction in personal income tax 100 percent exemption on excise tax, 100 percent exemption on property taxes and gross receipt taxes, and no state or territory tax. The EDC currently has 71 com panIes in program and according to latham, the goal Is to grow this number by 50 wIthin the next 2 yearn. ‘Despite the wonderful results we had in the past... We have to do better going forward.” Iatham said. Istham credited the success of the program between the yearn of 2013-2015 to current Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. who was the former chairman of the board ofthe EVA “Economic development is a team sport and every team needs a good coach.” Iatham said before inviting Bryan to give his remarks. Bryan said that prior to the con ference, he got a chance to review the 2017 tax reports, that point ed to a positive trend in tax pay ments in the territory. According to Bryan in 2017 there were 34,900 tax filers. “Of those 34,900 tax filers, 89 people paid 66 percent of the taxes.” Bryan said. ‘If you com bine the total of 3500-4000 peo pie that were in the $100,000 or more tax brackets, It accounts for 75 percent of our taxes. Ten per cent of our people paId 75 percent of our taxes.” Bryan explained that the reason the government allocated an extra million dollars to theEDA for mar keting efforts in the 2020 fiscal year budget, is because of his awareness of what the program means to the Virgin Islands. ‘The attraction of high net worth Individuals to the Virgin Islands Is one very strong component to our strategy,” Bryan bald. He also spoke of the significance of making sure that Virgin Islanders have access to quality education in order to assist with economic growth at a fundamen tal level. Our streamline strategy where we are going with K-8 so we can make sure that we are putting more resources into less schools, we are allowing for newer struc tures to be built and less money in maintenance and more money in education.” he said. According to Bryan. his admin istration continues to push for better education, which includes less stratification of students. ‘You have a situation where they don’t see anything but pover ty,” Bryan said in reference to schools located in poorer areas of the territory. As part of his eco nomic development strategy, he spoke of the Importance of mixing the population of the schools so there can be a fusion of students from homes that are middle class, upper-middle-class, and lower class in the same classrooms and having access to the same edu cation. According to Bryan. the free- tuition Initiative at the University of the Virgin Islands also saves as an investment in the island’s pop ulation. “But this, the EDC program. Is perhaps our greatest opportuni ty,” Bryan said. Thls Is not some thing we can afford to ignore.” He pointed out that the EDC program is not a tax giveaway program.” ‘Ibis Is a program that attracts real currency in revenue to our territory. It allows for pea- pie JfEa high net-worth to live in our population, and is certainly accountable for the majority of the taxes that we collect today.” he said. “We are marching forward and making sure that we are doing the kind of things that will allow us to maintain the kind of tax income that we are seeing during the storm and the recovery of the storm period throughout the tenure of the Virgin Islands. At some point the storm money is going in run out,” Bryan said. According to a report provided by the EDA, if EDC companies were unable to access the incen tives and were required to forego concessions, the benefits to the territory would be significantly lower as the overwhelming major ity of beneficiaries indicated that investments in the ta’ritrny would not have been made, or they would be forced to relocate to otherJurisdictions that would be more financially attractive and appealing. The report explained that carefully balancing the pm warn by granting incentives, mon itoring compliance, and assuring the advancement of residents through capacity and capability building may help the territory to retain and expand businesses, attract new businesses, sustain the economy, and Improve the quality of living for residents and visitors alike. “We are on the cusp of an economic renaissance and we have a great opportunity to move forward and grow this economy to create more eco nomic value for the people here in the territory.” Kamal Latham, chief executive officer of the Economic Development Authority said. A - -‘ 1,