Puerto Rico's revenues continue to come in strong

Puerto Rico's November net revenues came in 16.5% above projections.

November general fund net revenues were 7.9% above those for November 2021, according to the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury.

Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury Francisco Parés Alicea said the strong revenue performance was important because after Hurricane Fiona hit the island in September, the government "implemented a series of administrative measures to mitigate the economic effect on businesses and families. In particular, several dates for filing and payments were postponed [from October to] December 15. Therefore, even with the postponements and extensions of the date, the collections have exceeded what was projected."

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"This is good news for the government of Puerto Rico," said Advantage Business Consulting President Vicente Feliciano. "It puts them in a strong bargaining position when negotiating with the" Puerto Rico Oversight Board on the proposed fiscal plan.

In November sales and use tax brought in $259 million, individual income taxes were $188 million, and corporate income tax hit $83 million. Total net revenues were $818 million.

The categories with the greatest exceedances compared to projections were individual income taxes $29 million over projections, non-resident withholding taxes $28 million higher than expected, and sales and use taxes, which exceeded predictions by $25 million.

From July through November net general fund revenues were 9.8% over projections but down 0.5% compared to the same period in 2021.

For those months` the categories with the biggest draw were individual income with $914 million, sales and use tax with $773 million, corporate income taxes with $772 million, and the Law 154 excise tax on foreign corporations with $493 million. The biggest exceedences over projections were in corporate income taxes which came in $143 million over projections, individual income taxes $131 million more than expected, motor vehicles $86 million above predicted levels, and withholding on non-residents which was $82 million more than expected.

From July to November total net revenues were $4.011 billion.

There have been mixed readings recently on the health of Puerto Rico's economy.

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Puerto Rico Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp (COFINA) Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority PROMESA Public finance
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