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Puerto Rico is a part of the United States and its real shame that we don't do more to help it.

by shepardrtc 9y ago

mieseratte 9y ago
Puerto Ricans are exempt from income tax. Why should we?
- knieveltech 9y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics
- kbenson 9y ago
  Puerto Ricans do pay other Federal taxes. They also get less Federal funding per-capita than the national average. They are U.S. citizens. It is a U.S. territory. They are required to follow U.S. Federal law, yet do not have representation within the U.S. government. Even if they were not U.S. citizens, since they are not autonomous and allowed to govern themselves entirely, the U.S. has some responsibility over any situation Puerto Rico finds itself in. If you think they should be paying income taxes, tell your congressperson to stop dragging their feet and respond to the requests for statehood Puerto Rico's government has made multiple times.
- Jtsummers 9y ago
  They also don't get the federal vote (unless they move to a US state). Taxation without representation was one of the primary rallying cries of the American Revolution. Would be quite ironic to then go and tax people and simultaneously deny them representation.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Puerto Rico is a part of the United States and its real shame that we don't do more to help it. Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States, and the purpose of a colonial relationship isn't for the imperial power to aid the colony. That's sometimes a side effect, but the intent is for benefit to flow the other way. If Puerto Rico were part of, rather than a territory subject to, the United States, they would have representation in both houses of Congress and in the Electoral College.
- jetrink 9y ago
  And you feel that it is morally defensible to maintain this type of one-sided relationship?
  - karpodiem 9y ago
    The US is free to walk away and leave it how they found it, which was a worse state than present conditions, even after the hurricane. No relationship is one sided - it takes two to make it a relationship. The US doesn't need Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico needs the US.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > The US is free to walk away and leave it how they found it, The US didn't “find” it, it took it by force. EDIT: From another colonial power. I’m not sure Spain is really in the market for a Carribean colony right now, so it might not be that easy for the US to walk away and leave PR in its pre-US position.
    - JorgeGT 9y ago
      Well, when they "found it" this is, conquered by force, Puerto Rico was a territory of Spain. With the Constitution of 1812 Puerto Rico got a representative, like the other territories, and he was in fact chosen as Vice-president (= Deputy Speaker) of the House. 200 years later, the US hasn't still allowed them to ever send a representative...
      - dragonwriter 9y ago
        > 200 years later, the US hasn't still allowed them to ever send a representative... Well, we do let them have one non-voting representative in the House (similar to D.C. and other territories.)
      - 24gttghh 9y ago
        I get this thread is off topic but: That 1812 Constitution of Spain was a product of the Napoleonic wars and seems to have been basically ignored everywhere but Iberia-proper. So really, PR has never had proper representation to its colonial rulers. And technically PR has had a non-voting rep. in the US house of representatives since 1901.

Puerto Rico is a part of the United States and its real shame that we don't do more to help it.

mieseratte 9y ago

Puerto Ricans are exempt from income tax. Why should we?

knieveltech 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics
kbenson 9y ago
Puerto Ricans do pay other Federal taxes. They also get less Federal funding per-capita than the national average. They are U.S. citizens. It is a U.S. territory. They are required to follow U.S. Federal law, yet do not have representation within the U.S. government. Even if they were not U.S. citizens, since they are not autonomous and allowed to govern themselves entirely, the U.S. has some responsibility over any situation Puerto Rico finds itself in. If you think they should be paying income taxes, tell your congressperson to stop dragging their feet and respond to the requests for statehood Puerto Rico's government has made multiple times.
Jtsummers 9y ago
They also don't get the federal vote (unless they move to a US state). Taxation without representation was one of the primary rallying cries of the American Revolution. Would be quite ironic to then go and tax people and simultaneously deny them representation.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Puerto Rico is a part of the United States and its real shame that we don't do more to help it. Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States, and the purpose of a colonial relationship isn't for the imperial power to aid the colony. That's sometimes a side effect, but the intent is for benefit to flow the other way. If Puerto Rico were part of, rather than a territory subject to, the United States, they would have representation in both houses of Congress and in the Electoral College.

jetrink 9y ago
And you feel that it is morally defensible to maintain this type of one-sided relationship?
- karpodiem 9y ago
  The US is free to walk away and leave it how they found it, which was a worse state than present conditions, even after the hurricane. No relationship is one sided - it takes two to make it a relationship. The US doesn't need Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico needs the US.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > The US is free to walk away and leave it how they found it, The US didn't “find” it, it took it by force. EDIT: From another colonial power. I’m not sure Spain is really in the market for a Carribean colony right now, so it might not be that easy for the US to walk away and leave PR in its pre-US position.
  - JorgeGT 9y ago
    Well, when they "found it" this is, conquered by force, Puerto Rico was a territory of Spain. With the Constitution of 1812 Puerto Rico got a representative, like the other territories, and he was in fact chosen as Vice-president (= Deputy Speaker) of the House. 200 years later, the US hasn't still allowed them to ever send a representative...
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > 200 years later, the US hasn't still allowed them to ever send a representative... Well, we do let them have one non-voting representative in the House (similar to D.C. and other territories.)
    - 24gttghh 9y ago
      I get this thread is off topic but: That 1812 Constitution of Spain was a product of the Napoleonic wars and seems to have been basically ignored everywhere but Iberia-proper. So really, PR has never had proper representation to its colonial rulers. And technically PR has had a non-voting rep. in the US house of representatives since 1901.