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The Rum Tax and Puerto Rico

Reports on the “Fiscal Cliff Bill” are finding humor in some of the provisions, including the extension of the cover-over subsidies on rum from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Some are reporting this as “a new tax” or a “rum subsidy,” and the Washington Post described it as one “of the more curious tax provisions,”saying, “Most of that money is transferred to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, who use the revenue to support their rum industries.”Read More »The Rum Tax and Puerto Rico

Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor a Source of Pride

Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor encouraged a Sesame Street muppet to consider her own career rather than opting to be a princess. Stephen Colbert, reporting on the segment, pointed out that far more American girls have grown up to be princesses than Supreme Court Justices. And only one person of Puerto Rican heritage has ever been a Supreme Court Justice: Justice Sotomayor.Read More »Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor a Source of Pride

A Seat at the Table for a Puerto Rican PAC

“In the days following the general election,” wrote Arelis Hernandez of the Orlanda Sentinel last week,  “it quickly became clear that Puerto Rican voters helped tip the scales of political power in Central Florida.”

In the same story, though, Puerto Rican businessman Raul Ramos, director of the Puerto Rican Leadership Council, was quoted as saying, “Candidates come eat arroz con pollo and talk about their Puerto Rican college roommates to us, but they’re gone once the election is over. We want more than that — we want a seat at the table.”Read More »A Seat at the Table for a Puerto Rican PAC

Columbia Law School Expert Analyzes Puerto Rico Plebiscite Vote

Columbia Law School professor Christina Duffy Ponsa has published a thoughtful essay about the November 6th Puerto Rico plebiscite.  A nationally recognized expert on the constitutional implications of American territorial expansion, Ms. Duffy Ponsa’s analysis is a concise, easy read on the implications of the recent vote.  She wrote:Read More »Columbia Law School Expert Analyzes Puerto Rico Plebiscite Vote

The End of “Commonwealth”

In a Roll Call op-ed this morning, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi responded to an earlier piece in the same publication in which former Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon called the November 6th plebiscite a defeat for statehood.

Pierluisi focused primarily on the numbers behind the recent results and explains why statehood clearly won, but we believe there is also a more fundamental flaw in the former governor’s analysis.Read More »The End of “Commonwealth”