After the long-awaited and much-touted arrival to the local market, IKEA, the Swedish/Dutch company founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, opened its first store in Puerto Rico in Bayamon, last week. The concept unveiled is modeled after the one in the Canary Islands, Spain and the Dominican Republic, called an “IKEA Point” (Punto IKEA).
Parranda.org, a nonprofit created to help unite the “Greater Puerto Rico” — the 4.6 million in the states, an unknown number living in foreign countries, and the 3.7 million that remain in Puerto Rico — held a summit last week in which nearly 100 attendees from all walks of life produced a myriad of ideas to improve Puerto Rico, its economy and its collective life.
I met Luis Rodríguez-Báez thanks to Carmen Otero. That meeting, sparked a spontaneous admiration in me that few people provoke.
The main problem with the “national brand” that we have tried to develop is that we ourselves have sabotaged it. Many initiatives have been rejected for the sake of the continued polarization of forces distilled in circles demanding foolish leadership roles.
If Senate Bill 400, granting the Puerto Rico Products Association exclusive rights to manage the “Hecho en Puerto Rico” brand is approved, I would probably have to pay the Association some sort of fee for using said “brand” in my headline and surely ask their permission to use it.
Local organizations still have a chance to participate in this year’s edition of “Puerto Rico’s Best Employers,” a distinction earned by those who excel in achieving and maintaining a balance between corporate goals and employee’s value.
The Individual Retirement Account, best known as an IRA, is one of the few options that the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code provides as a tax shelter mechanism for tax relief when filing the income tax return. In addition, the IRA promotes the creation of a private and individual fund for the account holder’s eventual retirement.
Ask anyone who has just returned from a trip how it went and, without fail, one of the first comments will be their impression of how they were treated in the country they visited.
Law 1 of January 31, 2011, also known as the Internal Revenue Code for a New Puerto Rico (herein the “New Code”), replaces the Internal Revenue Code of 1994, as amended. This New Code amends and adds new provisions to the previously known Section 1165, related to Puerto Rico Pensions Plans (now Section 1081.01). This article specifically refers to Chapter 8 — Trust and Successions, Subchapter A — Employees Trusts.
The proposed amendments to the main public sector retirement system are as decisive as the crisis requires. However, the distribution of the burden is inappropriate because they represent little sacrifice on the part of the pensioners and a lot of sacrifice on the part of Puerto Rico's younger population.
Newspaper headlines and radio and TV news reports have become a definitive recipe for depression. As a matter of fact, I can’t watch the evening news unless I want to guarantee my usual insomnia. Furthermore, these articles and stories have made me realize that Puerto Rico has become “bizarre” country, an unforgiving “La-la land.”
The tax season is again upon us, and with it, as taxpayers, we begin to wonder how much tax we are going to pay. Some of you might have done some preliminary calculations based on your expected income and based on the transactions that took place during the year.
The government of Jamaica announced Tuesday that the World Bank has agreed to provide technical assistance in respect of preparing a master plan to create a Caribbean logistics hub in anticipation of completion of the Panama Canal Expansion Project in 2015.
Throughout Hato Rey’s Golden Mile, sotto voce, there is talk about an imminent amendment to Law 154 to increase taxes on foreign corporations. Under the present law, the excise tax on these corporations just declined from 4 percent in 2011, to 3.75 percent in 2012, and effective this month down further to 2.75 percent.
MIDA, the Marketing, Industry and Food Distribution Chamber, recently offered its members the results of a study on the situation of the industry. The study included a survey of 28 industry leaders who delved into the impact that demographic changes are having on the purchase and consumption of food.
NIMB ON SOCIAL MEDIA