April 18, 2001 – The Foreign Sales Corporation Commission held its first meeting Tuesday, chaired by Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James. The commission was created by executive order to deal with issues related to the close-out of the FSC industry.
The group elected economist Richard Moore as vice chair and attorney Marjorie Rawls-Roberts as secretary.
It also formed subcommittees to address the revision of local legislation and to explore the expansion of the territory into other financial services.
The vast majority of the territory's approximately 3,500 FSCs are expected to close up by Dec. 31, 2001, when the United States replaces the FSC tax incentive program for U.S. exporters with one it hopes will be more acceptable to its trade partners.
The Virgin Islands had been realizing an estimated $7 million to $10 million annually from the industry, most of that in franchise taxes.
The federal legislation allows for relatively few FSCs to operate beyond the Dec. 31 deadline in order to honor agreements they have with third parties. The commission has decided to issue a policy statement assuring such FSCs that the Virgin Islands will continue its contracts with them, exempting them from all V.I. taxes except the FSC franchise tax.
In a press release, James said the commission "is something I've been trying to have established for over six months. Now that the executive order has been issued, I am anxiously looking forward to working with this group of individuals, which represents an ideal private/public partnership, for the benefit of the people of the territory."
James oversees FSCs by virtue of his authority over the Division of Corporations and Trademarks.
Other members of the commission are James Hindels, Mary Busenburg, Gabi Rivera, Ann Golden, Nathan Simmonds and Alric Simmonds.
