VI-funded study touts benefits of VI

The Virgin Islands helps facilitate some $1.5 trillion in cross-border investments, supporting roughly 2.2 million jobs around the world, according to a report released last week by BVI Finance, the government-and-private-sector-funded organisation that promotes the territory’s financial services industry.

Government commissioned the London-based research firm Capital Economics last year to conduct the study as part of the territory’s effort to combat negative perceptions that the VI is a tax haven.

To the contrary, the study argues, the territory is actually a net tax contributor to governments around the world, to the tune of roughly $15 billion per year — a conclusion the report’s authors derived by estimating how much governments receive in taxes from the economic activity and income generated by the 2.2 million jobs the firm says the VI helps support. The researchers came to the 2.2-million figure by estimating the number of jobs created per dollar of investment in the jurisdictions where VI companies have a strong presence.

“Estimating the number of jobs related to a given value of investment is not an exact science,” the study cautions.

SEE THE JUNE 29, 2017 EDITION FOR FULL COVERAGE.

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