SCOTUS ruled in favor of the government against a resident of Puerto Rico who wrongly accepted SSI benefits for years until the feds decided he owed them some $30K in mistaken payments.
www.cnn.com
SCOTUS' ruling is absolutely correct. Congress is not required to implement the same tax/benefit scheme in the territories that it does in the states. And it's true that Puerto Ricans are exempt from several federal taxes, including the all-important income tax.
But they do pay other federal taxes, including the FICA tax that ostensibly funds the SSI that they are not eligible for. I wonder if it is high time for us to simply bring the insular tax scheme into line with the stateside one. (Or, failing that, should Puerto Rico just be a state already?)
Supreme Court rules Puerto Ricans don't have constitutional right to some federal benefits | CNN Politics
Congress can exclude residents of Puerto Rico from some federal disability benefits available to those who live in the 50 states, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
SCOTUS' ruling is absolutely correct. Congress is not required to implement the same tax/benefit scheme in the territories that it does in the states. And it's true that Puerto Ricans are exempt from several federal taxes, including the all-important income tax.
But they do pay other federal taxes, including the FICA tax that ostensibly funds the SSI that they are not eligible for. I wonder if it is high time for us to simply bring the insular tax scheme into line with the stateside one. (Or, failing that, should Puerto Rico just be a state already?)
