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What the Jones Act does: It requires that ships going from American coast to American coast be American — built, owned, flagged and crewed. That means goods going from the mainland to Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam, or even from Texas to New England, have to travel on U.S. ships, even if they’re not the most economical transport or readily available.
Why that matters to hurricane relief: The law means than foreign ships in nearby countries can’t just zoom over to Puerto Rico with aid supplies. They either have to pay tariffs for landing at a U.S. port, or they would have to go to Florida first to drop off their goods with a Puerto Rico-bound U.S. ship.
Puerto Rican officials have long despised the law, arguing that it makes their food and goods much more expensive than on the mainland. Politicians in Hawaii have argued that ranchers have even resorted to flying cows to the mainland rather than shipping them. Other opponents of the law say it forces New Englanders to pay more for propane, holds up salt supplies to clear snowstorms in New Jersey and raises electricity rates in Florida.
Regardless of whether the Jones act makes sense or not in the long term, what’s wrong with just temporarily making an exemption to save lives? It was done for FL and TX, right? Are Puerto Ricans being deemed less worthy?
I don’t want to diminish the humanitarian crises but want to throw out some facts.
Although they are US Citizens with US passports, Puerto Ricans do not pay federal personal income taxes. But they do pay federal business tax. About 3.7 billion paid into US Treasury in 2009.
They survive on state income taxes with a horrifyingly low collection rate. And local property taxes which are another mess. I worked and lived there for 3 years about 20 years ago trying to overhaul the property tax system. Every year about 45% of the property tax bills would be returned by post office as ‘undeliverable’ and they would just stare at about half million envelopes stacked up. It was a quagmire of issues trying to collect property taxes.
@greenwitch, I think you mean Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, which is even worse due to obvious conflicts of interest.
@coralbrook Yes, there are a myriad of issues in PR, just one being tax collection but right NOW humanitarian aid is all that matters. Perhaps measures can be taken to fix the long standing issues in PR in the future. The issues they are currently facing are due to Mother Nature not the functioning of governmental operations on the island. New Orleans was a mess in many ways, too, but after Katrina was that used as an excuse for not putting our full resources behind aiding them?
True they don’t pay federal taxes - no taxation without representation, correct?
Puerto Ricans are US citizens but PR is not one of the US states. The rules are different there. When Puerto Ricans live in PR they do not vote in US elections but can do so if they live in a state. Per above the tax laws are different as well. Being a territory is different and they are a product of history’s wars and strategic locations.
Many issues facing PR made so much worse by weather. Complex matters- who pays for the infrastructure that was in poor shape and now needs redoing when the government is in poor financial shape? How can management of public services be improved? Plus an island economy. Many questions.
@sylvan8798 exactly!!! We’ve been doing this since at least WWII. This is something the military is very familiar with.
I remember that this was used extensively during the Haitian earthquake. (I know it’s been used other places and times but that is a memory burned into my brain for some reason.)
When Hawaii and Alaska were territories they paid federal taxes before becoming states. I’m not sure why Puerto Rican’s do not pay. They do pay SS and Medicare payroll taxes because they receive those full benefits. In addition the government receives about 25 million in aid
This is a little dated but I’m sure things haven’t shifted too much. A lot of states are “takers” from the federal government, some almost as much as PR:
Y’know what? I live in a giver state. It never, ever crossed my mind that funds should be withheld from “taker” states like Texas or Florida or Louisiana.
These are PEOPLE. These are fellow Americans. Why the hell are we talking about taxes when people are dying because they lack water, food, and medicine?!