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A separate study by the Instituto de Libertad Económica, titled Taxes in Puerto Rico: Structure, Tax Burden, and Comparison with the United States, found that 1,236,709 individual income tax returns were filed in tax year 2023. Of those, 56.2% (695,568) claimed the earned income credit, representing total disbursements of $1.303 billion. The report—authored by the Institute’s director of research and policy, Ángel Carrión-Tavárez, and former president of the Asociación de Economistas de Puerto Rico, Edwin R. Ríos—also notes that total General Fund revenue from income taxes reached $7.424 billion in fiscal year 2023. Individual income taxes accounted for the largest share, at $3.403 billion, or 45.8%. That figure is calculated before deducting the government’s $448 million share of the earned income credit.

After reading the report Taxes in Puerto Rico: Structure, Tax Burden, and Comparison with the United States, published this week by the Institute for Economic Freedom (ILE), I wonder what exactly we have achieved with so many injustices to the tax system of the country, colony, territory—call it what you will—other than to swell the public coffers in exchange for receiving less, time and time again.

Puerto Rico residents face a tax burden that rivals, and in some cases surpasses, that of several U.S. states, according to a new study by the Institute for Economic Liberty (ILE).

A study conducted by economist Edwin Ríos and researcher and academic Ángel Carrión Tavárez concludes that various federal taxes are also paid on the Island.

In Puerto Rico, at least 13 occupations are identified as requiring licensing only on the Island, while in the U.S. no similar obligation exists, writes Edward Timmons.