Mapp Lifts Freeze On Tax Refund Checks: ‘We’re Going To Turn The Faucet On’

The Government of the Virgin Islands will start issuing income tax refunds to territory residents, as many have not seen a refund check in years, Governor Kenneth Mapp announced Thursday at a press conference held at Government House on St. Croix.

The governor said the process will be gradual, and will start with those who have been waiting the longest. As time progresses, tax payers would begin to receive their refund checks in a timely fashion.

The governor warned, however, that although refund checks will begin to be issued there would not necessarily be a flood of checks in residents’ mailboxes; instead, he said there will be a trickle to start, and as the government gets a better handle on its financial standing, greater amounts of checks would be released.

“Let me caution you that obviously we’re going to begin with the oldest tax refunds that are due and owing, but this is not going to come out in droves, we’re going to turn the faucet on, and as my commissioner of finance says to us, [we will] sprinkle them out,” Mapp said. “As the revenues come in and we get a greater hold on the financial condition, we will increase the amount of refunds that will be paid.”

In making available more tax refund checks to residents, Mapp said the results could only be positive, as economic activity will be boosted by residents engaging in commerce activity.

“But we are pleased to say to the public that the wholesale halting tax refunds, we’re going to lift that veil and we’ll start releasing some of these monies because we know most of these funds are going to end right back up in the economy, people have bills to pay, they certainly have spending that they want to do,” the governor said.

Mapp also made mention of workmen’s compensation payments that will start being released. Following the press conference, Lt. Governor Osbert Potter said he was not sure when those payments would be issued, but “we know that we have to.”

The government’s lapses in paying tax payers their income tax refunds have been well documented, with many not receiving refunds for multiple years.

The move comes at a time when the territory has been left reeling from an economic recession that first brought the American economy to its knees in 2008. Compounding the dire situation on St. Croix, in particular, was the 2012 closure of the HOVENSA refinery, which displaced thousands of workers and forced many to seek employment off island.