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January 24, 2008
Governor praises agreement on economic stimulus package; Urges inclusion of Virgin Islands in federal tax rebate program Gov. John P. deJongh Jr. Thursday praised the agreement reached in principle between Congressional negotiators and the Secretary of the Treasury on an economic stimulus package to jump-start the American economy. deJongh cautioned, however, that more details on the package must still be worked out so that the Virgin Islands economy fully shares in the stimulus bill and is not unintentionally disadvantaged by it. deJongh had earlier sent letters to the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and the House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who negotiated the agreement with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, urging that tax rebates be extended to all Americans, including Virgin Islanders, who do not pay federal income taxes. In his letters, deJongh cited precedents for including the Virgin Islands in past economic stimulus bills. The Chief Executive also sent letters to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-New York), Rep. Jim McCrery (R-Louisiana), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). deJongh noted that, without special rules for mirror tax code jurisdictions such as the Virgin Islands, the cost of the proposed income tax rebates could be borne by the Virgin Islands rather than the United States, thus, costing the local Treasury millions of dollars and negating any stimulus effect on the local economy. To avoid this potentially disastrous consequence, deJongh called on Congress to adopt a special rule for the Territories where the rebates would be paid out of payroll taxes paid to the federal Treasury rather than out of income taxes which are paid to the territorial treasuries. deJongh applauded the statement by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), endorsing the concept of payroll tax rebates for individuals who do not pay federal income taxes. |
