Talk:Political status of Puerto Rico/Archives/2014/April

United States Government Accountability Office (GAO)
May this information belong to this article and should be added: PUERTO RICO Information on How Statehood Would Potentially Affect Selected Federal Programs and Revenue Sources

Reference: United States Government Accountability Office GAO-14-31 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.18.54.225 (talk) 01:50, 2 April 2014 (UTC)


 * More appropriate in Proposed political status of Puerto Rico. Mercy11 (talk) 02:50, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Payment of Taxes
It is correct to say that all Puerto Ricans must pay all federal taxes with some exceptions as to the taxes paid. It is not correct to say that most Puerto Ricans pay all taxes with some exceptions as to the people because there is nothing inherently unique with some Puerto Ricans so that they only pay some taxes. That is, the fact that many do not pay federal income taxes in large part has to do with issues unrelated to status such as the amount of money you make and who your employer is. All federal tax laws apply there just as they do in the States. It just so happens that, just as in the States, some people end up not paying federal income taxes because the tax code exempts them if they are below a certain income amount, etc. That is, the law do not state WHO (as an ethnic group, or by some other similar criteria) must pay the federal taxes but as to the types of federal taxes that all residents end up paying. In addition, the way it was stated it seemed to say that residents are income tax-free, when the fact is that studies have shown that, on average, the rate of taxes (federal and Commonwealth) paid by the average resident is higher than the rate of taxes (both state and federal) paid by the average resident in the States. This is true of both income and non-income taxes comparisons. As such I have modified the text there slightly as well as added a clarifying note. BTW, whether you are Puerto Rican or not, you must still pay the federal taxes as long as you are a resident of Puerto Rico. So I replaced "Puerto Ricans" with "residents". Last, also touched up section about phasing out of federal taxes, as it refers not to personal taxes but industrial tax incentives. Mercy11 (talk) 15:38, 8 April 2014 (UTC)