H.R. 185

Territorial Economic Growth and Recovery Act of 2017

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the limitation on the amount of distilled spirits excise taxes covered over (paid into) to the treasuries of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

If Puerto Rico or the Northern Mariana Islands has a tax system that mirrors federal tax law (mirror code tax system), the Department of the Treasury must pay each possession amounts equal to the loss to the possession due to the application of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

If the possession does not have a mirror code tax system, Treasury must pay to the possession an amount equal to the aggregate benefits that would have been provided to residents of the possession by applying the EITC if a mirror code tax system had been in effect. To receive the payments, the possession must have a plan approved by Treasury to distribute the payments to the residents of the possession.

Treasury must pay to the Virgin Islands and Guam amounts equal to the aggregate loss to the Virgin Islands or Guam due to the Child Tax Credit.

The Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries must submit to Treasury's Office of Domestic Finance recommendations for actions that would be necessary to ensure that the public pension plans of the Virgin Islands can be sustainably maintained and funded by the government of the Virgin Islands for the next 20 years.