Federal bill would offer new tax breaks to pharmaceutical companies that move to or expand in some of the island’s most impoverished regions.
- Tax breaks would be from 40% to 60% on qualified expenses including payroll and benefits
- Bill to be presented by end of week
- In joint statement Tuesday, Governor Wanda Vazquez and the island’s non-voting representative in the House, Jenniffer Gonzalez, said the bill is one of several that are seeking to bring pharmaceutical production back to the U.S. amid the coronavirus crisis
- Any incentive Puerto Rico offers to companies “will be tied to job creation and economic development,” Vazquez said
- NOTE: The U.S. territory of 3.2 million people has been hammered by a decade-long recession and is trying to restructure billions in debt and unfunded pension obligations
- NOTE: Puerto Rico is home to 49 pharmaceutical companies and 70 medical-device makers, which represent about 33% of the island’s GDP, according to government figures
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