Increasing payroll tax exemption to $15K being explored- Premier Wheatley
This is according to Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) while addressing the issue of Minimum Wage during his first press conference for 2025 today, Thursday, January 23, 2025.
The Wheatley government had announced an increase in the Minimum Wage to $8.50 per hour effective November 30, 2024, however, it was subsequently postponed.
'I wanted to take another look'
“We had a change in minister. Of course, when I came in as minister, I wanted to take another look at the issue of the Minimum Wage.
Then Minister for Financial Services, Labour and Trade Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE, (AL) led the charge for the increase in the Minimum Wage. Hon Smith was removed from Premier Wheatley’s Cabinet of Ministers in October 2024.
“So we are just about to conclude the deliberations we’re having on that and we’ll be able to say something more to the public,” Dr Wheatley said.
Payroll tax exemption may be increased- Premier
Dr Wheatley said he did apologise to the public for the delay in implementing the Minimum Wage increase adding, “I do reiterate that apology again, of course, the timing was not ideal.”
He explained that when the Minimum Wage is increased as significantly as it was, there is always the potential for those costs to be passed on to the consumer.
“I wanted to ensure we had the proper mechanism in place to be able to deal with potential increases in prices including…that basket of goods,” he stated.
The Premier said the government is also exploring “sharing the burden with the businesses so that means potentially increasing the payroll exemption from [ten thousand dollars]; we are looking potentially to [fifteen thousand dollars],” Dr Wheatley revealed.
Currently, each employee in the Virgin Islands is entitled to an annual tax exemption of the first $10,000.00 earned remuneration.
It was in April 2024, that Opposition Leader Hon Ronnie W. Skelton (AL) recommended that employees earning less than $23,000.00 annually be given an annual payroll tax exemption of the first $15,000.00 earned.
Meanwhile, Premier Wheatley also reminded that a phased approach will also be used for the implementation of a Minimum Wage increase.
Dr Wheatley said he would be speaking with the public “very shortly” once deliberations have concluded.
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20 Responses to “Increasing payroll tax exemption to $15K being explored- Premier Wheatley”
Lord have mercy.
This primer is just bulls*** the ppl. Something already pass in House of Assembly. What do it have to do with a new minster in office. Ppl are not foolish. It's either the increase or no increase. Just like y'all give yourself the greedy bill without consideration for the ppl.
If you Fix the issue mentioned above, you can then increase the minimum wage and fix the tax exemption for those who make earnings less the $23000.00 annually.
If you don't have price control they'll raise the prices again.