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Ferrer Warns Consequences of Rejecting Amendment to Section 245 A

By on September 25, 2016

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Resident Commissioner candidate Héctor Ferrer made a call today to all the island’s sectors to back up a proposal presented by the Private-Sector Coalition (PSC) to the U.S. Congress to amend Section 245 A of the federal Internal Revenue Code to guarantee the island a process of economic development.

Ferrer encouraged a common front before the alleged lack of commitment and seriousness of his New Progressive Party (NPP) counterpart, Rep. Jenniffer González, who has opposed the amendment in order to prioritize her political ideology rather than the island’s well-being, he claimed. “With the same fanaticism and the same ideological obsession that terminated 100,000 jobs in one decade, [the NPP] now opposes the country’s economic development,” he said.

Héctor Ferrer, the Popular Democratic Party’s candidate for resident commissioner

Héctor Ferrer, the Popular Democratic Party’s candidate for resident commissioner.

The PDP candidate explained that through Section 245 A, there would be a deduction of 85 percent in the repatriation dividend, and U.S. company tax rates in the island would be reduced almost by half.

Ferrer noted that those corporations send their earnings to affiliates in Europe and Asia rather than the United States because they are classified as foreign companies. “What the amendment does is change them to domestic corporations that can pay taxes in the U.S. and go hand in hand with the same proposals by the Republican and Democratic Parties to bring millions of dollars to the U.S. that don’t come from North-American corporations,” expressed the PDP politician.

“This makes us competitive again. The problem we face regarding our industrial and service industry is that there weren’t incentives for corporations to make decisions to open any affiliate in Puerto Rico. This amendment allows for those which are here to remain, to bring new ones and that part of their dividend money doesn’t have to be taken immediately out of Puerto Rico, as is happening now, but can stay here in private banks and help,” he added.

As recently as April of this year, Ferrer said he maintained written communication with senators Orrin Hatch, Mitch McConnell, Robert Menéndez, Cory Booker, and congressmen Kevin Brady, Charles Rangel, Joe Crowley, and Richard Neal, in search of support for the measure.

Ferrer warned that eliminating Puerto Rico from Section 936 in the Internal Revenue Code forced erroneous decisions based on ideological fanaticism.

“The absurd fanaticism that led them to hand in 936, is the same irrational thinking that leads them to oppose this proposal for job creations and economic investment. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) emitted a report on May 2006, accepting that by eliminating 936, the U.S. Treasury didn’t receive the expected funds. However, in Puerto Rico we lost 100,000 jobs and a prosperous economy,” he observed.

“We must stop [NPP gubernatorial candidate] Ricardo Rosselló and Jenniffer González now, because they represent the same destructive ideas from the past,” denounced the resident commissioner candidate.

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