- Economic Sovereignty: Gain control over locally generated tax revenues and reduce federal dependency.
- Federal Reparative Investment: Secure reparative infrastructure investment in housing, utilities, and workforce development.
- Diversified Economy: Promote entrepreneurship, agriculture, green technology, and digital innovation.
- Grant Oversight: Implement federal audits of departmental grant recipients to ensure funds are used efficiently, transparently, and for their intended purposes.
- Rum Cover-Over Reform: Expose the rum cover-over program as modern taxation without representation and push for local economic self-determination.
Policy Statement:
For generations, the Virgin Islands’ economy has been shaped by outside interests and federal policy, resulting in chronic dependency and a lack of true economic sovereignty. Our locally generated tax revenues are sent to the U.S. Treasury, only to be doled back to us in a process that lacks transparency and control. A key example of this is the rum cover-over program, which returns federal excise taxes on rum to our treasury. While a critical source of revenue, this program is a modern-day form of taxation without representation, reinforcing our dependent status rather than empowering us.
My platform for economic justice is centered on taking back control. We will advocate for the return of our locally generated tax dollars. We will also demand a federal reparative investment in our foundational infrastructure—our housing, utilities, and workforce development. To build a resilient future, we must diversify our economy beyond tourism by investing in local entrepreneurship, green technology, and digital innovation. Finally, we will implement rigorous federal audits of all grant recipients to ensure every dollar is spent efficiently and transparently for the benefit of our people.