THE 20/22 ACT SOCIETY

After seven years since the enactment of Acts 20 and 22, our Founder Robb Rill highlights the relevance and growth of the Acts and their positive outlook for the upcoming years. He also emphasizes on the impact both laws have made to the local economy in the retail and real estate sectors, as well as the valuable job opportunities created for local professionals. Robb also showcases the significant philanthropic work done by the 20/22 Act Society in support of local charitable organizations.

Our Founder Robb Rill, along with other members of the Society, weigh-in on the reasons why they chose Puerto Rico as their new place to live and to establish their business operations. They explain how the competitiveness of the tax incentives and a qualified professional workforce has positioned Puerto Rico as an attractive business destination even with recent tax changes brought by the federal tax reform. They also highlight how they have inserted themselves in the local community to provide opportunities in betterment of Puerto Rico’s economy.

I often say there are three sides to a story. Everyone has a natural bias when telling their side. You have one view, the opposing view, and you have the truth usually somewhere in the middle.

In the case of Barron’s article, the way he dismisses the 12,000 direct jobs created so far as a result of Acts 20 and 22 is telling. It ignores the fact that prices are determined at the margins, and 12,000 new jobs is a lot for a tiny island economy like Puerto Rico’s. And that’s not to mention the indirect jobs. Even people who’ve never been to a Cocktails and Compliance gathering—or to Puerto Rico at all—should be able to see this dismissal as bias.

Puerto Rico’s attractiveness as a business jurisdiction will be jeopardized as a result of continued constant changes to its tax incentive programs.

So, there is a delicate trade-off between the death of the economy and projected controllable death toll rates. Seeing both aspects as extreme opposites is unacceptable and yet there needs to be a tradeoff between the lesser of two evils.

This article reviewed The 20/22 Act Society’s efforts to potentially challenge a retroactive $4,700 tax introduced by Act 40 of April 16, 2020.

While we are supportive of raising the charitable requirement, and it is true we are against forcing donors who previously had a choice to donate to any approved 1101 charity to now be restricted, we do not believe the donations should be mandated to a special legislative list controlled by a few key politicians.

“We have no other choice but to proceed with legal assistance to address the situation of non-compliance with the agreements filed when we signed the decrees of Laws 22 and 60. Changes have constantly been made, altering the laws with which we decided to invest in Puerto Rico.”

“The Society and its members have no problem with prospective changes to the law applied only to new applicants,” he said. “New investors will know beforehand the amount that they must pay. While such a massive increase may be poor policy, that is not what is being challenged in the lawsuit.”

“THE WEEKLY JOURNAL interviewed separately three investors who decided to bet on Puerto Rico after the creation of Acts 20 and 22 of 2012 (Acts 20/22), which have since been amended and encompassed in Act 60 of 2019, also known as the Incentives Code. These entrepreneurs discussed the island’s investment climate now, the retroactive changes made to the laws that drew them to Puerto Rico, the economic impact of the governor’s executive orders, and how to restore investors’ trust on the island.”