PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jan 3, 2017
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).
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
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.
People & committees
Del. Plaskett, Stacey E. [D-VI-At Large] · D–VI
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 11, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.185 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.185 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.185 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.185 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.