Thread: The Political Status Of Puerto Rico (again)
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Old 06-05-2008, 08:22 AM   #2 (permalink)
Zack
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Ricardo

The Democratic Party would like nothing more than for Puerto Rico to become a state because Puerto Rico would vote Democratic. For that same reason the Republican Party would not encourage statehood because of the loss of political support.

I live near Aguadilla for almost eighteen years now and I'm a main-lander of Anglo origin. I'm not politically involved in PR politics but can easily see why most Puerto Ricans support the status quo. Most Puerto Ricans live in poverty level as determined by stateside standards and as a result they would pay no federal taxes but they would still have to pay PR tax. There would actually be little advantage to statehood since we already get the full support plus some form the federal government that a state would get in federal services.

I don't think we pay federal highway taxes now on our gas so if we were to become a state we would pay more for gas. We receive special tax breaks on industry that employees many of the citizens in the pharmaceuticals and technology industries that would probably disappear. What advantages do you see for becoming a state outside of voting in federal elections?