The tax reform in the US

The employers Association of Industrialists of Puerto Rico (AIPR) warned today that about 70,000 jobs of the manufacturing sector on the island, a Commonwealth of the United States, are in danger before the possible implementation of a tax reform in that North American country.

San Juan, November 13 (EFE) .- The Puerto Rico Association of Industrialists (AIPR) warned today that nearly 70,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector on the island, a Commonwealth of US, are in danger before the possible implementation of a tax reform in that North American country.

The president of the AIPR, Rodrigo Masses, said today at a press conference that the project of the so-called federal tax reform that is currently considered in the United States Congress would impact, if approved, 70,000 high-paying jobs of the manufacturing sector on the Caribbean island.

Masses explained that on November 2 the Committee of Ways and Means of the Federal House of Representatives presented the project legislative HR 1, which involves a proposal to reform the federal Internal Revenue Code, with the aim of attracting manufacturing production to the US.

The objective is that the activity manufacturing industry returns to the United States and with it the income, production and generation of US companies. country.

Masses explained that the objective of discouraging the activity of US companies from leaving the country will unintentionally affect the developed manufacturing activity in Puerto Rico.

"It would be a drastic historical change that would place Puerto Rico as a foreign country," said the president of the island's management. Caribbean.

He explained that when considering this legislative initiative, it was not taken into account that Puerto Rico is a jurisdiction with full integration in the US. responsible for about 70,000 direct and 200,000 indirect jobs.

In addition, and more serious, he said, those companies that could now leave Puerto Rico under the new regulations that can Approve generate approximately 35% of the tax collection of the island.

Masses stressed that after the passage of Hurricane Maria on September 20 on the island, which destroyed its infrastructure and left millions of losses, this new episode would be a real coup de grace for Puerto Rico and its weak economy, which carries a debt of 70,000 million dollars in the process of restructuring under the supervision of a federal judge.

Sections 4301 and 4303 of the HR 1 legislative project would particularly affect Puerto Rico, since they require companies taxation in the US that a US affiliate company makes another affiliate outside the North American country.

Despite the efforts of the AIPR, the regulations were promoted without any type of exemption for the US companies proposal for federal tax reform, which inserts provisions to protect manufacturing activity in the United States. Americans on the island.

Those provisions, underlines the AIPR, do not introduce sections that exempt the effects they would have on the manufacturing sector in Puerto Rico.

The employers stresses that given the current economic situation facing the island and the very serious consequences of Hurricane Maria, the manufacturing sector is the basis for maintaining the activity float.

Therefore, the AIPR will carry out efforts in Washington before Congress to take into account the position of Puerto Rico before the tax reform in March.