The governor defends in the tribunal his decision to publish the list of beneficiaries of lines 20 and 22

The entity without fines of lucrative Espacios Abiertos (EA) acution to the tribunal as an intervener in support of the position of the Department of Economic Development and Trade (DDEC) of publishing the list of beneficiaries of decrees both the 20 and 22 actions a request by the Puerto Rico Privacy Association, Inc. (PRPA), which states that this action violates the privacy of its members, a group of inversionists not identified.

The Department of Justice, representing the parties requested – the DDEC and the Department of Home Affairs – indicates during the celebrations the visit is by the late Anthony Cuevas Ramos, from the Chamber of Extraordinary Appeals of the San Juan Tribunal, which publication of the information related to the contributory decrees issued in accordance with the mandate of the Ley 60 of 2019 (known as the new Code of Incentives of Puerto Rico). I understand that contrary to what the petitioners argue, the information that is published is not of a confidential, personal or financial nature.

For its part, three representatives of the Block Legal buffet, representatives of PRPA, will present their opposition to the dissent, insisting that the publication of the information violates the intimacy of those who accept the decrees and threaten the contractual relationship between them and the governor.

Espacios Abiertos questions the active legitimacy of the association that radiates the demand, while the union has the arguments presented by the DDEC in favor of the dissolution.

Since the year 2017, Espacios Abiertos has supported the release in Puerto Rico of information related to the contributing concessions, as is the case in the United States and many other countries in the world since the 1970s, indicates the EA’s Executive Director, Cecille Blondet.

“Our people need to have access to know how to use it in every cent of public money, so include what the recipient is and the title of the receipt. This is the application of the same manner to the contributing privileges. The money that needs to be ingested erroneously through these concessions is also a public guest, because as the governing one as they receive these concessions they have to pay, ”Blondet explained in a press release.

“Without clear and precise information, we can evaluate the return of their concessions and find out if the social benefit has been recorded. In times of crisis, when austerity measures are taken and public services are recruited, the country can not follow suit on tax and probationary issues. Every dollar is worth it and it is our right ”, he concluded.

Taxpayers or tributaries are all the exclusions, deductions, exceptions and contributory credits, among others, that the governor has different types of contributors: individuals, companies, industries and fine institutions. In general, these concessions are authorized by the end of incentivizing economic activity or logging a social impact. The concessionaires are cataloged as a guest of the governor realized by the code of taxes, and as all public government guests, information must be available for citizenship.

“The publication that Hacienda and the DDEC have is a recent and historic one. A step in the right direction makes the mayor transparent, so that he has to recognize and protect “, Blondet indicated. In addition to existing platforms, such as Good Jobs Eerstens’ Subsidy-tracker, it retrieves and easily accesses the information that divides the jurisdictions of the United States.

In Puerto Rico, fiscal guests eran a guest not visible, an occupuesto occulto has until 2019. Spaces Abiertos dio la batalla for the publication of a Informe de Gastos Fiscales y la llevó hasta los tribunales. The Junta de Supervisión Fiscal also supports the production of information from this index.

Finally, in September 2019, Hacienda was published for the first time by the News of the Tributaries (Belastinguitgawesverslag), which revealed that their “guests” in Puerto Rico amount to more than $ 20 million annually. This figure represents 20.4% of Gross Domestic Product or 30.3% of Gross National Product and double the annual general income of the governor of Puerto Rico.

Since the year 2020, the DDEC has been working on its website, also starting to publish information related to the variants of the loans that credit or expenses are charged. About 70 licensed authorities in various government departments and other municipal instruments to concede and regular contributory concessions.

People interested in getting to know more about how the tax guests work or the taxpayers can access the study that Espacios Abiertos has at: http://bit.ly/2muzEew