Puerto Rico General Fund revenues came in well ahead of Puerto Rico Oversight Board projections in the first half of the fiscal year, though they were slightly down year-over-year.
Net revenues from July to December were 24.1% above projections and in the latest month alone, December, saw revenues increase by 36% over projections.
The Puerto Rico government received $479 million of tax revenue postponed from the prior fiscal year, which skews the numbers. Normally, that money would have been received in the prior fiscal year but the government allowed individuals and companies to delay the payments due to COVID-19’s economic stress.
Net revenues in the first six months were $5.19 billion. Without the postponed revenue, this figure would have been $4.711 billion. If postponed taxes are withdrawn from the individual income tax category, the category would have received 12.3% less than in July through December 2019.
Despite the revenues coming in higher than expected, they were still 0.6% lower than the revenues of July through December 2019.
Puerto Rico’s fiscal year began July 1.
Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury Francisco Parés Alicea said that November and December set records for overall collections. He said this was because the local economy was doing reasonably well, particularly in regard to consumption, due to federal and local funds being delivered to the Puerto Rican people to offset the economic effect of the COVID-19 ordered shutdowns.
Sales and Use Tax collections were 32.6% higher than that found in July through December 2019. The separate taxes on alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and motor vehicles were each higher every month July through December than they were a year earlier.
The Law 154 excise tax on foreign corporations saw a strengthening of collections from July through December 2020. Compared to the previous year’s monthly collections this revenue stream came in $161 million short in July, $23 million short in August, $25 million ahead in September, $11 million ahead in October, $2 million ahead in November, and $45 million ahead in December.
