U.S. Virgin Islands legislators voted Feb. 22 to put an indefinite hold on a proposed tax of $1 per passenger for cruise lines calling at St. Croix.
A majority of legislators on the Senate Committee on Finance said that the tax would jeopardize the slow but improving cruise industry on St. Croix, according to a statement issued by the legislature following the meeting.
Sen. Nereida Rivera O’Reilly, who sponsored the tax bill, proposed that funds would be used to upgrade the island’s downtown areas.
In 2011, an estimated 170,000 cruise passengers visited St. Croix.
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