🏛️ Government · U.S. Virgin Islands
Bryan says House bill would extend higher rum cover-over rate through 2032
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said on Feb. 14, 2025, that bipartisan legislation had been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to extend the temporary increase in the rum cover-over excise tax rate for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
According to Government House, the bill was introduced by Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat from the Virgin Islands, and Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican from Kansas. The measure would maintain the current $13.25 per proof gallon rate for funds returned from federal rum excise taxes and would extend the increase through 2032.
Government House said the bill also would apply retroactively to Jan. 1, 2022. Permanent law sets the rate at $10.50 per proof gallon, while the additional $2.75 requires periodic congressional reauthorization.
Bryan said he planned to travel to Washington on Feb. 17, 2025, for the 2025 Interagency Group on Insular Areas meeting at the U.S. Department of the Interior and to discuss the rum cover-over extension and other federal issues with White House officials and members of Congress.