A new federal report scrutinizes Puerto Rico's tax incentives luring wealthy Americans

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico tax incentives that have lured thousands of rich Americans to the U.S. territory for over a decade are under scrutiny after federal legislators released a new report on Friday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The report found that the island’s exemptions could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and it urged the International Revenue Service to improve its oversight, warning that some recipients “may not be meeting their federal tax obligations.”

The report was requested in July 2023 by Democrats in the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee to investigate how the tax breaks “could create an unfair tax haven for the ultra-wealthy and do nothing to benefit the people of Puerto Rico.”

U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, said in a statement Friday that after President Donald Trump’s administration downsized the IRS, “there’s barely anyone left to check if these wealthy transplants are even playing by the rules and meeting the basic residency requirements to justify these tax breaks, let alone contributing to the community.”

Read more: https://vifreepress.com/2025/12/a-new-federal-report-scrutinizes-puerto-ricos-tax-incentives-luring-wealthy-americans/