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The New Progressive Party’s (NPP) candidate for governor, Jenniffer González Colón, unveiled her tax reform proposal during the party convention held over the weekend.
Her initiative aims to revamp the tax framework and public finances, fostering improved economic opportunities by enhancing fundraising abilities, personal savings, financial planning, and the administration and safeguarding of funds at the municipal level.
Senator and NPP resident commissioner candidate William Villafañe Ramos, alongside members of the Platform Committee of the Luis A. Ferré Institute and its executive director, Veronica Ferraiuoli, were responsible for developing the NPP government agenda, #AcciónPR. They joined the NPP president in showcasing the proposals.
The Government Program, which features 113 proposals that González Colón, the current resident commissioner, previously introduced in the primaries, will be ratified at a general assembly scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 22 at 9 a.m. at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Hato Rey.
“We will implement a tax reform focusing on aiding the middle class, who live paycheck to paycheck and are often caught in the middle,” González Colón remarked. “That’s why we will examine every aspect of tax rates; we will also investigate ways to significantly lower capital gains taxes for local investors and essentially provide preferential treatment to our residents.”
The NPP president outlined several pivotal aspects of her tax reform plan, advocating for a reform that would lower tax rates, reduce capital gains taxes, and eliminate the inventory tax. She indicated efforts will be made to freeze the inventory tax for five years, while exploring a strategy to replace it.
Additionally, she suggested exempting prescription medications from the inventory tax.
“As soon as I take office at La Fortaleza, I will form an ad hoc committee to assess all current tax rates and propose measures to simplify our tax system,” she stated.
The initiative will ensure that all federal funds acquired are utilized to establish the Office of Training and Support in Federal Funds, aimed at identifying federal opportunities, dedicating training and educational resources within agencies and municipalities for federal fund applications, enhancing adherence to federal programs, and increasing renewals of granted funds.
The proposal further advocates for augmenting the authority of the government’s chief financial officer to bolster oversight, supervision, and management of federal funds within the Treasury.
In a related note, the Federation of Puerto Rican Mayors and Camuy’s mayor Gabriel Hernández Rodríguez expressed the Federation’s backing for González Colón’s initiative to create a “czar” to monitor the performance of the energy consortium LUMA Energy, the private entity managing the island’s electric power transmission and distribution system.
