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Despite failing to convince Congress to exempt from the effects of the tax reform bill, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon sees some good signs:

The landmark federal tax reform proposal released on Friday includes a provision to encourage economic growth in Puerto Rico and other economically distressed areas that was requested by Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón and several other members of Congress in a letter to congressional tax leaders.

The tax bill omits several of the group’s other requests.  When asked about the omissions during a Friday night press conference, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), the Chairman of the congressional conference committee that released the tax bill, explained that more assistance for Puerto Rico would be forthcoming in separate legislation expected to pass by the end of the week.

The December 12 letter, which was led by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR) and signed by Representatives Jose Serrano (D-NY), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL) and Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), urged the tax leaders “to take action on several provisions that will incentivize direct economic activity in the local economy of Puerto Rico, rather than simply allowing corporations to attribute income there for tax purposes.”

The letter further explained that “[a]ttributing income to an area for tax purposes has for too long enabled companies to save far more in taxes than they contribute to the local economy.”

Recognizing that the “economic situation in the island…leads Puerto Ricans to look for better opportunities in the 50 states,” the letter’s signers – who are from Puerto Rico and/or have significant Puerto Rican constituencies – concluded that “[t]he simplest, and best, solution would be to treat corporations in Puerto Rico as domestic for tax purposes.”  They further emphasized that “the conference should work towards that goal.”  Corporations in Puerto Rico are not treated as domestic in the tax proposal released on Friday.

Whether forthcoming legislation actually comes to fruition is yet to be seen.

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