González Colón promises tax reform, repeal of inventory tax, at convention

By The Star Staff

New Progressive Party (NPP) gubernatorial candidate Jenniffer González Colón presented her proposed tax reform during the party’s convention over the weekend.

She plans to reform the tax system and public finances and provide better opportunities for economic growth by facilitating fundraising, individual savings, financial planning, and the management and retention of funds at the municipal level.

Senator and NPP candidate for resident commissioner William Villafañe Ramos, as well as members of the Platform Committee of the Luis A. Ferré Institute and its executive director, Veronica Ferraiuoli, were in charge of preparing the NPP government program, #AcciónPR. They accompanied the NPP president in the presentation of the proposals.

The Government Program, including 113 proposals that González Colón, the current resident commissioner, presented in the primaries, will be approved in a general assembly next Sunday, Sept. 22 at 9 a.m. at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Hato Rey.

“We will make a tax reform emphasizing how we will help the middle class, who live month to month and are always like the ham in the sandwich,” González Colón said. “That is why we will review everything that has to do with tax rates; we will also evaluate how we dramatically reduce the payment of capital gains for local investors and, in this way, basically give preferential treatment to our people here.”

The NPP president presented several key points of her tax reform proposal, promoting a tax reform that allows for lowering tax rates, capital gains and replacing the inventory tax. She said work will be done to freeze the inventory tax for a period of five years, while a mechanism is evaluated to replace it.

She also proposed exempting prescription drugs from the inventory tax.

“Once I arrive at La Fortaleza, I will establish an ad hoc committee to evaluate all existing tax rates and propose solutions to simplify our tax system,” she said.

The plan will ensure that all federal funds obtained are used to create the Office of Training and Support in Federal Funds to identify federal opportunities, dedicate training and education resources in agencies and municipalities for requesting federal funds, improve compliance with federal programs, and increase renewals of awarded funds.

The proposal also calls for strengthening the powers of the government’s chief financial officer to improve supervision, oversight, and management of federal funds in the Treasury.

Separately, Puerto Rico Mayors Federation and mayor of Camuy Gabriel Hernández Rodríguez said the Mayors Federation supported González Colón’s proposal to establish a “czar” to oversee the performance of the energy consortium LUMA Energy, the private operator of the island’s electric power transmission and distribution system.