The Effect of Taxes on Investment and Income Shifting to Puerto Rico

The income of Puerto Rican affiliates of U.S. corporations is essentially untaxed by either Puerto Rico or the U.S. This lowers the tax penalty on real investment there, and also makes it attractive to shift reported taxable income from the U.S. parent corporation to the Puerto Rican affiliate. Because the ability to shift income is affected by the presence of real operations, the true marginal effective tax rate on investment in Puerto Rico depends on the income shifting opportunities.