According to the article “artículo “Avalan incentivos contributivo para médicos del país” by Rebecca Banuchi, published on the newspaper El Nuevo Día on February 8, 2017, Bill 5 was passed. Through this bill there will be a significate reduction on the taxes of doctors in Puerto Rico with the end game of reducing the number of doctors that are leaving the country and to increase the return of them to the country. According to the article, if the taxpayers identified as doctors in Puerto Rico accept the benefits of this bill, it is estimated that the treasury will have impact of $185 million dollars.
The bill proposes that the fixed tax rate for doctors be 4% and it would have a term of 15 years. The Secretary of the “Departamento de Hacienda”, Raúl Maldonado Gaudier, stated that it is costly for the government that doctors are leaving Puerto Rico, since they do not pay taxes. The President of the JSF, José Carrión III, stated that the government must certify the fiscal impact that recent legislation has. The President of the Healthcare Commission, Juan Oscar Morales, stated that the bill will not have problems with the entities that control the government’s finances.
The bill identifies as “qualified doctors” general doctors, specialized doctors, podiatrists, dentists, dental surgeons and specialized dentists. Also, the bill includes a list of guidelines to follow when evaluating doctors’ requests to benefit from the bill.
The bill has been criticized under the argument that it will take a toll on the public treasury, it does not attend other problems that cause doctors to leave such as problems with insurance companies, and it did not take into account the “Comisión de Hacienda’s” analysis regarding the fiscal impact that the bill will have.
To read the complete article, please read the following link http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/politica/nota/avalanincentivocontributivoparamedicosdelpais-2289413/.