Where’s the money? That’s what thousands of people in the Virgin Islands want to know as they wait, and they wait, and they wait, for their tax returns.
“There are just shy of 20 thousand returns where refunds are owed,” Alex Golubitsky said.
That’s where Golubitsky, comes in. He’s represents those who want their money back and he’s suing the Virgin Islands Government to do it.
“We’re really looking for two things, one we want the government to pay what they owe and two we want the problem to be solved.”
SO CBS USVI News sat down with Governor Kenneth Mapp for some answers.
“When we came into office there were three full years of unpaid tax refunds,” Gov. Kenneth Mapp said.
Mapp said he inherited millions of dollars in refunds owed when he came into office. Which is true. Records from the Government of the Virgin Islands indicate returns owed back up to 2001. In this election year, Mapp has been promising to pay back some of that money owed.
“Well we pay tax returns almost literally every other Friday.”
Mapp said he’s asked VI legislature to approve $10 million from the St. Croix refinery deal with the Limetree Bay facility to pay back some of those refunds. As they pay through the 2016 and now going to pay the 2017 tax refunds.
But still some questions left unanswered. We asked Governor Mapp again this week about his long-term plans to address the issue.
“Get them up to date and then be able to pay them on a regular basis,” Mapp added.
As the debate around the missing money continues, Virgin Islanders anxiously wait to get their money, back.”
