Abandoned by Trump, Puerto Rico hit by tax bill

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Donald Trump awarded himself a 10 out of 10 score two months ago for his response to Hurricane Maria, which leveled Puerto Rico.

“If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died,” Trump said as he toured Puerto Rico in October. “What is your death count, as of this moment — 17?”
“Sixteen certified,” the governor of Puerto Rico replied.

“Sixteen versus literally thousands of people,” Trump said. “You can be very proud.”

How proud we are now?

Last week, we learned the truth. Some 1,065 more Puerto Ricans died in September and October of this year than in previous years, almost certainly storm-related deaths, according to the Center for Investigative Journalism. When all is tallied, the destruction in Puerto Rico will be very much on par with what Trump considers “a real catastrophe like Katrina,” which killed about 1,800.

Incredibly, a large portion of the island remains without power — three months after the storm. It was reported last week that power may not be fully restored until May. Puerto Ricans — American citizens — are still awaiting tarps and temporary roofs to shelter them after an untold number of homes were destroyed.

A new report from Refugees International said, “Thousands of people still lack sustainable access to potable water and electricity and dry, safe places to sleep.” The group faulted the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “bureaucratic and opaque assistance process” for leaving survivors with “enormous challenges.”

This, in the United States of America, in 2017. Ten out of 10, Mr. President. A-plus for you!

http://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/milbank-abandoned-by-trump-puerto-rico-hit-by-tax-bill/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=bb45c2d084-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-bb45c2d084-228635337

[Igel]

1. I still don't know enough about PR's tax situation.

PR's long been treated in some ways as foreign territory. It's also long been treated in some ways as US territory.

That's led to articles like this one: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-28/drugmakers-hold-key-to-puerto-rico-s-future-in-u-s-tax-overhaul

I find it interesting because it points to things I don't know and which aren't routinely cited in discussions about PR and the tax bill. It makes me wonder what else I don't know, and why, if this is true, it's not deemed pertinent. It's like a disinformation campaign, to be honest. There's accurate information, stuff left out, and the conclusion is predetermined but not necessarily valid.

A U.S. drug company can buy its own products from its Puerto Rico plant and attribute the proceeds to its island subsidiary, where U.S. income taxes don’t apply. As long as the cash is kept offshore, the company owes nothing to the Internal Revenue Service and pays the territory’s local 4 percent excise tax. ...

In 2003, the year after Amgen Inc. restructured its Puerto Rican unit as a foreign subsidiary, it paid a 28.8 percent tax rate and had $1.6 billion of cash offshore. By the end of last year, its effective tax rate fell to 15.7 percent and its offshore cash swelled to $35.9 billion.

Amgen said in its 2016 annual report that “substantially all” of its tax benefit from offshore operations “is attributable to our foreign income associated with our operations conducted in Puerto Rico.”

By "foreign income" is meant Puerto Rico.

It can't be unnoticed by me that 28.8 percent to 15.7 is 13.1%. That's very close to the 12.5% excise tax imposed.

“A number of organizations, including Amgen, have major investments in Puerto Rico that were made there to capitalize on the tax advantages created by U.S. laws,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Bradway said on a call with analysts in October. The bill should “maintain the incentive for us and others to invest on the island.”

It leads me to consider that there's a lot I don't know and which, in a reasoned discussion, would have been explained as any part of necessary and adequate background.