Puerto Rico FY2013 General Fund Revenue Announced

The Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico announced that the preliminary estimate of total General Fund revenues for fiscal year 2013 was $8.5 billion.

Thursday's announcement was an improvement from the $8.3 billion estimate made in the winter of 2012-2013 and reported in a Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico data report dated May 17. The data report said that the revenues in fiscal year 2013 were expected to be improved mainly by a tax amnesty in effect.

However, the $8.5 billion revenue estimate for fiscal 2013 is down $156 million from the revenue estimate for fiscal year 2012. This decline is of concern, said Municipal Market Advisors managing director Bob Donahue.

Over the longer term, the fiscal 2013 general fund revenue figure is up $787 million, or 10%, from fiscal 2009 general fund revenues.

The biggest monetary differences for revenue categories between fiscal 2012 and 2013 were: corporate income tax revenues fell $154 million or 10.7%; foreign company (Act 154) revenues declined $205 million or 10.8%; and miscellaneous non-tax revenues were up $260 million or 109.2%.

Act 154 imposes an excise tax on certain acquisitions by non-resident individuals, corporations or partnerships of products manufactured in Puerto Rico and of services related to these products by entities affiliated with the purchaser.

Sales and use tax revenue was up $22 million to $553 million in fiscal 2013 compared to $532 million in fiscal 2011, a 4% increase. Donahue said that because Puerto Rico's government promised that crackdowns on evasions of the tax would lead to more dramatic increases, the revenue increase is disappointing.

In other financial disclosures, the GDB revealed that Puerto Rico's public sector debt is $69.7 billion. Of this, $20.3 billion is related to the commonwealth's general fund.

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