Efforts by Virgin Gorda villa owners to withhold hotel accommodation taxes due to an unsafe public road have sparked debate over whether residents should use tax payments to compel government action on failing infrastructure.
The situation drew attention on this week’s Talking Points show, where hosts discussed a report from the Mahoe Bay area indicating that business owners withheld taxes from the government and deployed those funds toward road repairs.
Co-host Elvin Grant questioned the legal position.
“The withholding of government revenue just like that is a fairly draconian step,” he said. He warned about wider copycat moves. “Just imagine if we started; everyone started withholding taxes for stuff that the government haven’t done?”
The hosts linked the Virgin Gorda dispute to a broader breakdown in basic services, noting that poor roads were affecting visitors as well. Co-host Damion Grange referenced a safari bus excursion where a gentleman said he thought he was going to die because the vehicle was swaying to avoid potholes.
Grant, however, cautioned against shifting core responsibilities away from the state.
Under Virgin Islands law, hotel accommodation tax is imposed under the Hotel Accommodation (Taxation) Ordinance, Cap 205, which is one of the revenue laws referenced in the government’s new SIGTAS tax administration legislation Miscellaneous Amendments (SIGTAS) (Validation) Act, 2025.
Background
In a commentary published in September in the BVI Beacon, Christina Yates, the owner of Virgin Gorda Villa Rentals (VGVR), described repeated flooding in May 2024 and August 2025 that damaged beachfront properties and further undermined the Mahoe Bay–Mango Bay public road.
“This inaction and neglect create a dangerous situation for motorists and residents,” the VGVR manager wrote, warning that a full road collapse “would sever the only alternate access routes to the North Sound and Nail Bay areas.”
The letter said Public Works staff had visited “on several occasions” but that “no meaningful work or maintenance has been carried out” in 15 months. VGVR argued that homeowners and the company had borne the cost of repeated clean‑up and that staff livelihoods were at risk.
The manager issued a two‑week ultimatum: “Within 14 days of Aug. 20, we require a detailed plan of action from the government,” including a start date and timeline for drainage upgrades and road stabilisation. If not, “VGVR will have no alternative but to withhold hotel accommodation taxes payable to the government” and use the money instead to install culverts and stabilise the road, while documenting all costs.
VGVR framed the move as a duty to protect the community. “VGVR believes we have a moral responsibility to the residents of Virgin Gorda, our homeowners, our staff and our guests to act where the government has not and seems unwilling to act,” the commentary stated. “We believe that when the government fails the people repeatedly and even causes life-threatening situations to exist for long periods of time, then the citizens are entitled to act.”
A recent Facebook post noted that owners “took the unprecedented step of withholding a portion of hotel accommodation taxes to fund essential remedial works themselves.” The post said the works included “installing new culverts and stabilising the severely undermined section of the Mahoe Bay–Mango Bay road” and that repairs were on track for completion by December 12.
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