Treasury Secretary Melba Acosta said Thursday that revenue collections so far this year — July 2012 through April 2013 — totaled $6.8 billion, or $321 million less than originally included in the general budget. The projection of a deficit through June 30, including certain transactions that will close before then, is $295 million, or 69 percent less than the original $965 million projected deficit, one of the components of the $2.2 billion structural deficit.
Puerto Rico Treasury Department officials told lawmakers Friday that collections stemming from the proposed increase in the excise tax on cigarettes and tobacco should go in their entirety to the General Fund and not distributed for other purposes, as proposed by the three measures under consideration by the Legislature.
The Puerto Rican government’s proposal to eliminate the business-to-business sales tax exemption is not a good idea and does not guarantee the $800 million in new revenue Gov. García-Padilla’s administration has predicted, because oversight and collections related to these transactions is a difficult task to achieve, Economist José J. Villamil said Thursday.
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