Posted on 05/08/2003 8:05:11 AM PDT by 4Freedom
Gov. Calderon wound up her latest lobbying efforts here Tuesday for the island's Section 956 economic initiative, but so far the proposal had not surfaced in President Bush's tax cut plan undergoing scrutiny in both the House and the Senate.
While the governor maintained, "We don't have any firm expectations" that the island initiative would become part of the massive tax program, sources report that efforts were being made to get the Puerto Rico provision attached to a new Senate version that was introduced Tuesday and will be marked up by Thursday in the Finance Committee.
Finance Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, did not include the Section 956 proposal in the new measure, despite a request to do so by Trent Lott, R-Miss., according to sources close to Congress. Lott could still file an amendment in favor of the Puerto Rico initiative before the Thursday markup is completed, the sources said.
The House, meanwhile, was marking up its own tax-cut plan on Tuesday, but no changes to Section 956 of the Internal Revenue Code being published by Puerto Rico were included in the lower chamber's legislation.
Jon Sheiner, tax consultant to Ways and Means ranking minority member Rep. Charles Rangel, said Tuesday the New York Democrat had no plans to offer any Section 956 amendment. Neither did Rep. Philip Crane, R-Ill,. according to a spokeswoman. Rangel and Crane have been the staunchest proponents for the island's economic programs on the committee. Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., has said he opposed the 956 changes.
The commonwealth wants the tax code provision changed so that stateside companies operating in Puerto Rico that register as controlled foreign corporations would be given hefty tax breaks on profits returned to the states. Puerto Rico is arguing that the change in the 956 provision, which controls CFCs, would help create more jobs on the island and result in the CFCs paying more taxes to the federal treasury.
Bush originally had called for a $726 billion tax cut over 10 years. The House level is at $550 billion while the new Senate measure puts the cuts at $415 billion.
Calderon said at a news conference here Tuesday she could not say how much the 956 changes would cost the U.S. Treasury. Nevertheless, a Calderon administration lobbyist has been quoted as saying that the cost has been reduced to some $6 billion, after the commonwealth made changes in its original proposal. The Joint Tax Committee had put the cost of the original plan at some $32 billion.
Without giving further details, Calderon said recent changes in the 956 proposal now primarily target the creation of jobs on the island. On Tuesday, the governor had meetings scheduled with several members of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees, as well as with Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. She said she had to cut short other meetings set for today because of pending business back on the island.
The governor repeated that Puerto Rico was searching for "the right vehicle" on which to attach its economic plan, and Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila, who also attended the governor's news conference at the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration offices, said that Congress was expected to take up other tax measures this year. One of them could be the elusive "right vehicle" for Puerto Rico's proposed Section 956 changes, he said.
If the U.S. Congress doesn't give you your new Section 956 Tax Scam to replace your old Section 936 Tax Scam you could:
1) Throw the U.S. Navy off of the Naval training base on Vieques!
Oops, you already did that.
2) Threaten to protest until Adm. Natter, Chief of Atlantic Naval Operations, agrees to close the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base.
Oops, he already did that.
3) Threaten to protest until the Naval base in Sabana Seca, PR is closed.
Oops, it closed already.
Hmm, I know, threaten that you will protest and that there will be no peace on Puerto Rico until all of these bases are opened, again!
LOL!
I must say though, considering all the expose's you do on PR, you must be Cuban. ;-)
Keep up with the postings. The American people need to know what a drain PR is on our public finances. I have NEVER looked upon PR as a part of the US other than in a political sense (an even there, the connection is tenuous) and view it as yet another third world cesspool that where OUR MONEY goes do with the mierda.
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