Tom Joyce at The Center Square recently covered the issues surrounding Puerto Rico’s recovery and its taxes, particularly on the fight between Governor Jenniffer González-Colón (NPP, R), and the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón faces new scrutiny over a local tax fight that critics say could raise the cost of federally funded disaster recovery work and slow the island’s long-delayed power grid rebuild.
The fight centers on Act 215,a 2024 law that amended Puerto Rico’s municipal code. The law changes municipal procurement rules and narrows an exemption from construction excise taxes.
That matters because Puerto Rico still has billions of dollars in federal disaster recovery work left after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and earthquakes in 2019 and 2020.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office said FEMA had given Puerto Rico$23.4 billionin Public Assistance funds for permanent recovery work as of June 2023. Puerto Rico had spent $1.8 billion of that money at the time, and GAO said “a substantial amount” of permanent recovery work remained.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico hastoldthe Puerto Rican government and several municipalities not to implement Act 215 unless the board confirms that it complies with PROMESA and Puerto Rico’s certified fiscal plans.
The controversy happens amidst a delayed recovery, a failing power grid, a failing water supply, and discussions of the oversight board’s eventual exit.
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