Linda: I know some people are going to ask if you were really on St Thomas!! About the lack of a sales tax- believe me, they have ways of getting your money, don't worry! 😉 About local crafts- did you go to Tillett Gardens, Kilnworks Pottery or Mrs. Elskoe's co-op downtown? About music- there is steel pan music fairly frequently, although usually a single pan player, not an entire band. The local contemporary music may have eluded you- Jam Band, P'Your Passion, etc. I agree that there should be more quelbe music around- my personal campaign is for music at Havensight when folks arrive from the ships and at Emancipation Garden at lunch... About souvenirs, they are EVERYWHERE!!! I am glad you found St Thomas so quiet!!!

The lack of sales tax goes back to the terms of sale from Denmark back in the 1920s. Denmark declared that the Virgin Islands would be a duty-free port, and part of the sale agreement from Denmark to the US was to uphold that agreement, which the US has. That is also why any taxes levied on the island (such as Federal Income Tax) can be raised, but it cannot leave the island....however, sales tax cannot be raised b/c it falls under taxes levied on the sale of goods and services rendered, for which the sale agreement states that such duties cannot be levied.

Yes, it would be a great means of revenue, but if they levy sales tax, it opens the door to things like sin taxes, excise and import taxes which also cannot be raised on durable goods, etc. (You do pay an import tax on cars ONCE on the way on to the island, but cars are not considered durable goods, since they depreciate.) If THOSE taxes are allowed, then it would surely kill the tourist trade, b/c things like diamonds, gold, leather, cameras, and booze would cost the same as it would in the US, which defeats the purpose of shopping like a fiend upon arrival on the island.

Personally, I like that fact that my $3000 diamond in my wedding ring bought on St. Thomas immediately appraised for $17,000 upon arrival in the US....and no, I would
not be willing to pay such a price either in the US or the USVI and I doubt that most would.

So, my thoughts on the matter are, keep sales tax away which keeps other taxes away, and the island still benefits from the income tax the businesses have to pay, and they won't lose customers because their costs to import things have made it impossible to rake in the customers.

As for Caribbean music, Sapphire Beach hosts reggae music every Sunday, Carnival is a great time to go hear Caribbean music, and when I lived there there were several places to go buy local wares. Down around where Little Switzerland is/was, there was quite a few local people there that sold things, and Tillett Gardens, and places like Color Of Joy, and several other places scattered all over the island.

Yes, there are lots of poor people in the VI. However, there are even more poor people on every other island in the Caribbean. Try Jamaica...lots of poverty there. Or Haiti...even worse. Dominican Republic, hmmm...got it there, too. There are also lots of really nice areas with gorgeous homes, and modest middle class homes on the island. Did you not see any of those?

My question to you is, if St. Thomas had that kind of tourist draw, would you really want to go? Heck, I knew when I lived there that if it was a Wednesday in January, I didn't DARE go into town between 10:00 AM-5:00 PM, as it was a zoo from where 50,000 cruise people were in town along with all the other activity. That's just too crowded for me.

St. Thomas actually makes a ton of money off the tourist trade. It's the shopping mecca of the Caribbean. I think the lack of a sales tax is intended to get people to visit and spend. A tax would be a deterrent to spending. There is, of course, an eight percent room tax.

The trouble with a sales tax is that it impacts residents as well. You're not going to be a politician in the V.I. very long if you propose taking more money from the citizens who are already struggling to make ends meet.

By the way, did you check your hotel bill? Assuming of course that you weren't there just for the day on a cruise ship. You were taxed 8% per day. Meaning a night's stay at the Westin, which averages $350/night during the season, will cost you $28 in taxes. Stay for a week and you've paid just shy of $200 in taxes.

No tourist activity? Did you go to Main Street? How about the Vendors Market at Emancipation Park? Coral World? Havensight Mall? Funny, the most often complaint heard about St. Thomas is that it is too commercial and too touristy.

I agree whole-heartedly with the seeming lack of local-flavor music. I love reggae, but it's hard to find a place where you can go to hear it regularly. Unless of course you're in St. John and you visit Fred's on a Wednesday night.

Richard N. Kurpiers

I have to agree about the local music. I have always said if a place that had local music with limbo shows and mocko jumbies would be full every night with tourists! Although hokie, I am sure locals would go too!

In regard to the tax. yes, we shoudl tax the tourists separately. When they tried to raise the departure tax for cruise ships, they were met with great opposition from cruise lines, although it was only a $2.50 raise and the cost was to be paid by the cruisers not the ship. I still don't get it!. They could do like what Arizona did when they wanted a football stadium for their pro team, the Cardinals. They have an extra tax on rentatl cars and hotel rtoms. Locals won't bear the cost fo the stadium. Imagine that!
Ronnie

Local newspaper editorial noted the absence of music at the cruise ship docks as one of the things tourists enjoyed in other ports of call.

I heartily agree that the sound of music playing while passengers dis-embark is about the most welcoming island presence one could have!

Ronnie, who do we see about getting some of the steel pan orchestras to meet for an early morning 'practice' at the docks? Tourism bureau! Ugh!

Linda,
Where did you stay? cant be St Thomas. Vendors plaza in town and at the Lookouts along the road, Mt. Top, and Coki beach to name a few.
Sorry that you didn't look in "This Week in St. Thomas" magazine. We find and seek out as much West Indian culture as possible when we go and it isn’t that hard but we always do wish for more because that’s how we really know we’re on vacation. Most resorts have a Caribbean Night, different nights of the week with the Mocko Jumbi’s and fire eaters and dancing on glass. Ritz Bolongo Sugar Bay and former Ren. Grand Beach did. GB had island music by Dr. Libierd at happy hour at least 5 days at which we enjoyed, and Agave I believe has pans Tues. and Thurs. Different nights different places. Of course Saphire on Sun. We found that the only USVI place that lacks the W.I. ambiance we crave is while visiting St John, perhaps because the tourists out number.native locals who take the ferry back to St. Thomas where they live after working in St John all day.

I agree that more would be welcome at key spots by many, esp at Havensight and CA. Most visitors such as ourselves don’t go to the USVI’s to hear smooth jazz, or find a piano bar, or get a hamburger for that matter when we can that any night of the week back home. For memories of the “islands” to continue the culture needs to be kept alive.
LB

I'm beginning to think Linda may have gotten on the wrong plane and ended up in Dominica. (Just kidding, Linda. I gather that at least you had a good time.)

We stayed east end, hung out in Red Hook mostly, and I'm telling ya, there were no vendors, there was no local music! Went to Havensight one day and saw no vendors, and heard no music. Did not hang out in Charlotte Amalie at all. Maybe that is where most of the action is.
We read all the tourist stuff that was in the condo, (didn't know about "This Week in St. Thomas") and saw very little regarding where to go to hear local music. We ate out at least twice a day and heard nothing. We even made a point to go to Agave on a Tuesday night, because they publicized that they had live music, and they had none. Evidently the band didn't show!
Anyway, we heard some piped in radio music at a couple of beach locations, but that was it.
Granted, we were only there 4 days. Maybe that wasn't long enough to dig it out, but it was not readily apparent to us and generally in beach resorts, you don't have to look very hard to find local talent. And because places like Bolongo's only did their thing on certain nights of the week, we didn't hit that opportunity right.
Anyway, there just didn't seem to be an over-abundance of local entertainment. That was our experience.

We were at Coki, and spent alot of time at Grand Beach Palace.
There was nothing.
Maybe it had to do with the time of year we were there....August.