Puerto Rico’s opportunity

The United States Territory of Puerto Rico is going through one of the most difficult times in its contemporary history. The economic and fiscal crisis facing the almost 3.6 million American citizens on this Caribbean Island requires identifying a specific set of initiatives that would jump start our economy, which has been in recession since the third quarter of 2005.

The times that we are in demand innovative alternatives, easy to implement and free of the archaic bureaucratic processes that only prevents a full and healthy economic recovery.  We need a complete reset and the Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico offers us that opportunity.

{mosads}First of all, it is well understood that our political status as a colony or territory is a major obstacle to achieving a sustained economic development.  White House’s Task Forces on Puerto Rico, under Republican and Democratic administrations alike have concluded that for a long-term solution to our fiscal crisis it is imperative to alter our current relationship with the U.S. Any provision or remedy adopted by the Task Force without addressing the political status of the Island would be insufficient and would seal our fate as a debt ridden jurisdiction.

Second, it is imperative to attract an injection of new capital which, in turn, will keep growing within our economic cycle, bringing benefits shared between the public purse and the labor force.  For this, we are proposing to the Task Force the creation of a robust federal tax incentive package aimed at attracting new manufacturing companies back to the Island. The aforementioned tax credits would apply to companies that generate 60 percent of their capital on the Island and would be tied directly to job creation. These proposed tax incentives would be restricted to a period of 10 years, with a possible 10-year extension.

We also need to reactivate our construction industry, which is vital for the recovery of any economy in precarious terms. Such industry creates a positive movement throughout the economic wheel by the direct and indirect acquisition of goods and services. To achieve such purposes, it is indispensable that the Task Force take a long look at the existing permitting process in Puerto Rico. We need to get rid of the excessive bureaucracy that governs it. 

Finally, to have this opportunity, Puerto Rico must have parity in the allocation of funds for Medicare and Medicaid programs. Due to the current inequality of federal disbursement, the local government is forced to allocate large sums of public money to provide healthcare to an ever increasing population. This injustice has drained the local government’s coffer. By late 2017, the funds allocated to the Island by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, will run out leaving the local government without any resources to offer a viable healthcare service to its residents.

The Task Force will give Puerto Rico an opportunity, it’s up to us to seize.

The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.