Bryan Voices Strong Opposition to EU's Non-Cooperative Tax Jurisdiction Listing

Swift condemnation from Government House followed the recent announcement from the European Council of the European Union that the USVI remained on the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

“It is unacceptable for us to continue being treated like a foreign country separate and apart from the United States," Governor Albert Bryan Jr. said during the annual meeting of the Department of the Interior’s Interagency Group on Insular Areas, which was held on Wednesday morning. "In the area of territorial tax treatment, especially, we continue to be treated inconsistently across the Territories as a group."

The governor, who has been lobbying against the USVI’s inclusion on the EU blacklist since 2019, said he is scheduled to meet with State Department officials in Washington in the near future to discuss this and other key issues affecting the territory.

The Government of the Virgin Islands continues to urge the EU to reconsider its decision, and to “recognize the U.S. Virgin Islands’ commitment to international cooperation and transparency.”

The GVI categorizes the territory’s continued inclusion on the blacklist as “unjust,” and says the Bryan administration “remains steadfast in our efforts to rectify this situation and ensure fair treatment for the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands.”