12/2017 The Perfect Storm in 2017

Irma, Maria, and the US Tax Reform
On Wednesday December 20th, 2017, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This is a major overhaul of the US tax code that will substantially cut corporate tax rates on a permanent basis and tax cuts to households that will expire over the next decade. It will also increase the Federal deficit by $1.5 trillion and adversely hits Puerto Rico as “collateral damage”. PR will remember 2017 as the year of the perfect storm with category 5 hurricanes Irma and Maria in September and the US tax reform. The latter threatens 50% of our GDP, 288,000 direct and indirect jobs, and 33% of the central government budget. The hurricanes destroyed PR’s electrical grid; uncovered the face of poverty; bankrupted many small and medium businesses; incentivized massive migration to the US, and further curtailed PR’s autonomy to govern itself as Congress mandated a Fiscal Supervisory Board. Will business and financiers gamble on PR?