Potential Tax on Internet Purchases

now, does the government have suggestion boxes?

Call our senators.

Always got a laugh out of Holy Thursday and Easter Monday. Holy Thursday, Good Friday-might as well take the whole week off. Easter Monday, might as well take the rest of the week as well. Our government at work.

It's Ash Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday. Then comes Carnival......

Ash Wednesday was 2 days ago and is not a government holiday.

Oops!

If they legalize pot it can be renamed Hash Wendsday and turned into a Gov Holiday

One easy source of tax revenue for the USVI would to encourage people to retire to the USVI and then elect with the IRS to have their world wide income taxed in the USVI. Should be an easy sell to convince retirees from states with high income taxes to make the change and it really isn't that difficult to spend 183 days a year in the territory.

If the USVI was on the ball they should be doing seminars in Boston this winter to convince people to come on down and get away from the snow and high taxes.

Of course once they convince people to make the change the IRB needs to have staffers with the skill set to fairly and competently deal with these taxpayers. I know from personal experience at least three high income individuals that after being jerked around for years by the IRB revoked their election to be taxed in the USVI and decided to pay their taxes elsewhere.

In the next census the VI needs to count people in an organized fashion. During the last census the VI didn't get to the area where I lived until July. By then the snowbirds and others who leave island in the summer were long gone. The VI showed a population loss in the last census probably entirely due to the incompetency of the census bureau here so for the next ten years the VI will get less than their entitled share of Federal Programs.

Unfortunately both these suggestions are predicated on a competent government which unfortunately is lacking in the USVI.

They already have a program for people with world wide income.

Jim,

The final factor for moving a company or moving your assets is cost. If it costs less to operate out the VI, companies would take advantage of it. The tax code mirrors the Us with a few differences. The 5% gross tax is staggering. The lack of "s corp" is a deterrent. The lack of inheritance tax is very appealing.

The census was taken before Hovensa closed, so the population on STX has probably declined so it could be a wash.

For an accurate headcount you are probably correct, however if the VI had counted everyone accurately in 2010 they would have received benefits for the higher count until 2020 and the impact of the Hovensa closing would have reduced the population.

Here's a great service I just discovered on another thread. This service would be the prefect solution for avoiding any VI government imposed internet sales tax. Anyone who buys a lot of stuff on Amazon or other online outlets like I do would easily get there monies worth from the saving of not paying the duties Paradise Freight, VI Cargo, STT Cargo and such are obligated to collect.

Let me know your thoughts on this strategy.

http://www.amhomebase.com/

The VI cannot force a stateside vendor to collect and forward an internet sales tax.

Ah yes, so true CruzanIron, but they can likely compel freight forwarders to collect it. Since invoices have to be provided to determine the products country of manufacture and duty rate, they could easily detect that it was an internet sale.

The mail forwarder system avoids that because the GVI can't compel the USPS to collect it for them and previous attempts at this have failed.

Taxing an already fed up population is really bad idea. They should spend the effort attracting new business.
The sport fishing industry is good add a fish processing area so the fishermen can take their catch home. Outfitters in Alaska and Canada offer the service, it's a big add on for the guides and the airlines or freight companies.

Too late...they've already overfished most of the local species. And, they gave away the charter business to the BVI years ago when the US Coast Guard changed the rules on captain's licencing.

We should be getting some of the boating business back with the new law that is supposed to allow most boats up to 12.

The VI has many restrictions that don't apply to other Caribbean islands thanks to the federal government. The feds help in many ways, but sometimes the laws work against us.

Definitely ms411...I was just over in the BVI on a friend's 48' catamaran for a week.

They really have they're #$%@! together over there.

Ah yes, so true CruzanIron, but they can likely compel freight forwarders to collect it. Since invoices have to be provided to determine the products country of manufacture and duty rate, they could easily detect that it was an internet sale.

The mail forwarder system avoids that because the GVI can't compel the USPS to collect it for them and previous attempts at this have failed.

I guess that I was thinking about vendors like Amazon, and small shipments directly through the post office and overnight services that make up the bulk of internet sales.