San Juan mayor: GOP tax bill would be worse for Puerto Rico than hurricanes
BY OLIVIA BEAVERS - 11/29/17 09:55 AM EST
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz on Tuesday said the tax legislation Republicans are pushing in Congress will have worse consequences for Puerto Rico than the hurricanes that hit the island earlier this year.
"This would be a much more devastating blow to our economy than Irma and Maria put together," Cruz said on "The Rachel Maddow Show."
Cruz noted that the tax proposal includes a 20 percent excise tax on goods imported from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States. That provision, she said, would destroy the island's economy. "[Our economy] is crippled already, this would obliterate it," she said.
The San Juan Mayor accused President Trump's administration of failing to protect the island state from the possibility of a humanitarian crisis enfolding, while claiming that GOP lawmakers' have repeatedly pledged they will fix the language in the bill but have failed to do so.
"The Republican Congress has promised we're going change the language, were going to change the language. But nothing happens. And that hurts the credibility of the Trump administration if they have any credibility at all at this point in terms of the Puerto Rican humanitarian crisis," she continued.
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http://thehill.com/policy/finance/362309-san-juan-mayor-gop-tax-bill-would-be-more-devastating-to-puerto-ricos-economy