What happened to the stamp duty report?
Premier Dr. Orlando Smith should publicise the stamp duty inquiry report that was withheld by the former government.
The document was swept under the rug after it was completed almost two years ago, in spite of then-Governor David Pearey’s request that legislators make it public by tabling it in the House of Assembly.
Then-Premier Ralph O’Neal explained his government’s refusal to do so by complaining that two appendices had been redacted by the Governor’s Office and saying he didn’t want to release an incomplete report. But this reasoning seems disingenuous: Though we agree that the entire report should be public, we see no reason why the appendices’ redaction would preclude releasing the rest of the document.
At the time, Dr. Smith, then the opposition leader, rightly urged Mr. O’Neal’s government to table the report. Now that he is at the helm, Dr. Smith has an opportunity to follow through himself, bringing closure to a matter that was mishandled from the start.
In May 2007, with spectacularly poor timing, Mr. Pearey announced the inquiry about three months before that year’s election. Years of poorly explained delays followed before the inquiry finally got under way in early 2010. It was held in private, and was completed in March of that year. Then came the former government’s refusal to publicise the results.
Such bungling does not inspire faith in the government, the Governor’s Office, or the Virgin Islands’ system of checks and balances. But publicising the report now would help the public understand the results of the $300,000-plus inquiry, which investigated allegations of widespread underpayment of more than $500,000 in stamp duty.
Members of the public need to know whether those allegations were true so that they can rest assured that officials are taking adequate steps to repair any systemic flaws that led to improprieties.
Dr. Smith and other members of his government have repeatedly promised transparency. Tabling the stamp duty report would help demonstrate their commitment to this commendable ideal.