Governor unsure if tax relief certification has been submitted to fiscal board

By THE STAR STAFF

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón acknowledged on Wednesday that she does not know for certain whether the certification related to tax relief was submitted to the Financial Oversight and Management Board, as required by law within a seven-day period.

“Of course, if it hasn’t already been submitted,” the governor said at a press conference in Salinas. “No, because there was a meeting of AAFAF yesterday, and the fiscal component was discussed with them, so I assume it was submitted, but if it hadn’t been submitted, it would be submitted within the corresponding deadlines. Although I think they already had it.”:

She added that the checks taxpayers will receive will not have a fixed amount, since each person has a different tax liability.

“These aren’t checks for $500, $1,000, or $2,000, right? That’s not how it works,” González Colón said. “Each taxpayer’s tax obligation will depend on how much they earn. If they earn $25,000 or less, if they earn $50,000 or less, if they earn, I think it’s $75,000 or less, $95,000, and so on,” she said.

She said that everyone who earns less than $150,000 will receive an automatic check, but the amount will vary depending on income and applicable deductions.

“How much will it be? It will depend on their income, it will depend on their deductions,” the governor reiterated. “If a person, for example, earned less than $150,000 and previously had three children and had a deduction of $2,500 for each, then they previously had a deduction or could have been receiving a final deduction of $7,500. In this case, with the increase to $5,000, we’re talking about $15,000, just for the dependents.”

González Colón added that scenarios have been modeled with profiles such as nurses, technicians, secretaries, and firefighters, and that sales tax payments on prescription medications and accounts for people with disabilities are also being eliminated.

“Scenarios were created, we can share them again, for nurses earning a certain amount, technicians, secretaries, firefighters, because it will depend on the income,” she said.

The governor said that the fiscal reserves will not be touched and that she expects to repeat the savings generated last year.

“We are not impacting the 5 percent reserves,” she said. “I generated some savings last year that I plan to replicate this year in order to give back to the people what they earn.”