A number of tax benefits for Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories have been added to the Puerto Rico earthquakes assistance bill that the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass next week. Leading the list is extending the portion of the Child Tax Credit that makes payments to workers beyond the extent… Read more »

Pedro Pierluisi, who was the Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico at the time, wrote a letter to President Obama in 2015 recommending a yes-or-no vote on statehood for Puerto Rico. “Thomas Jefferson wrote the ‘the ground of liberty is to be gained by inches’,” Pierluisi began his letter. He went on to define statehood as… Read more »

Former New York City Mayor and Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has come out in favor of statehood for Puerto Rico. “For decades, Puerto Ricans and their interests have been ignored by Washington. And there’s a simple reason why: They don’t have a vote in Congress,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “There’s a clear solution to… Read more »

U.S. House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Lowey (D-NY) last night proposed a bill to appropriate $4.67 billion in special disaster assistance for Puerto Rico. The bill has the support of the Democratic leadership and is expected to pass the House of Representatives next week. A Trump Administration official said in reaction to an earlier $3.35 billion… Read more »

The Trump Administration does not see a need for new appropriations for assistance to Puerto Rico to cope with the damaging earthquakes that began December 28th and are continuing in the central and southwestern portion of the island of Puerto Rico. A senior official was quoted this morning in Politico as reacting to the plans… Read more »

Inspired by ABC’s “Shark Tank,” the New York Federal Reserve is bringing a pitch day to San Juan, Puerto Rico on January 27 and 28th. The event, modeled on one created by the Kansas City Fed in 2011, brings investors and community organizations together for a pitch competition. Shark Tank in San Juan? “Shark Tank”… Read more »

Puerto Rico has been hit by more than 1,280 earthquakes in the past month. How severe have the quakes been, what has caused them, and will there be more? What’s magnitude? When we hear that Puerto Rico has experienced a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, what does that mean? Earthquakes are measured according to the Richter scale, developed… Read more »

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has won a significant court victory in a dozen year effort to have Microsoft pay taxes on at least $39 billion in income that it shifted to Puerto Rico, where the profits were not taxed at all or taxed no more than two percent — contributing to the territorial government’s… Read more »

President of the Puerto Rico Senate Thomas Rivera Schatz has proposed an up or down vote on statehood for the 2020 elections in November. Senate Bill 1467, translated as the Law for the Final Solution of the Political Status of Puerto Rico, calls for a plebiscite during the general elections on November 3, 2020,  which… Read more »

Flanked by fellow U.S. House of Representatives Members from both national parties, Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R/New Progressive Party) Saturday said that she plans to introduce a bipartisan bill to appropriate money for assistance related to the earthquakes in the central southwestern part of the island of Puerto Rico since December 28th. Touring… Read more »