استفتاءات_الوضع_السياسي_لبورتوريكو
يتم تقديم ثلاثة بدائل رئيسية بشكل عام للناخبين البورتوريكيين خلال الاستفتاء حول الوضع السياسي لبورتوريكو: الاستقلال الكامل، والحفاظ على وضع الكومنولث الحالي أو تعزيزه، وإقامة ولاية كاملة في الاتحاد الأمريكي. إن التوقعات الدقيقة لكل من صيغ الوضع هذه هي موضع نقاش من قبل أتباع مواقف معينة والمنتقدين. اقترح البورتوريكيون المواقف التي تعدل البدائل الثلاثة المذكورة أعلاه على النحو التالي (أ) الاستقلال المعوض بإلغاء الدعم الأمريكي التدريجي، (ب) الاستقلال السياسي الموسع دون المالي، و (ج) إقامة ولاية مع الإلغاء التدريجي للإعفاء الضريبي الفيدرالي. Contrary to common misconception, residents of Puerto Rico do pay U.S. federal taxes: customs taxes (which are subsequently returned to the Puerto Rico Treasury) (See Dept of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs.), import/export taxes (See ), federal commodity taxes (See ), social security taxes (See https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc903.html), etc. Residents pay federal payroll taxes, such as Social Security (See https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc903.html) and Medicare (See https://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58N5X320090924), as well as Commonwealth of Puerto Rico income taxes (See http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n19/USNotInnocent-en.html and ). All federal employees (See ), those who do business with the federal government (See ), Puerto Rico-based corporations that intend to send funds to the U.S. (See http://www.jct.gov/x-24-06.pdf Page 9, line 1.), and some others (For example, Puerto Rican residents that are members of the U.S. military, See ; and Puerto Rico residents who earned income from sources outside Puerto Rico, See http://www.jct.gov/x-24-06.pdf, pp 14–15.) also pay federal income taxes. In addition, because the cutoff point for income taxation is lower than that of the U.S. IRS code, and because the per-capita income in Puerto Rico is much lower than the average per-capita income on the mainland, more Puerto Rico residents pay income taxes to the local taxation authority (i.e., the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) than if the IRS code were applied to the island. This occurs because "the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico government has a wider set of responsibilities than do U.S. State and local governments" (See http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-06-541). As residents of Puerto Rico pay into Social Security, Puerto Ricans are eligible for Social Security benefits upon retirement, but are excluded from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico residents, unlike residents of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and residents of the 50 States, do not receive the SSI. See http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.21/handbook-2114.html), and the island actually receives less than 15% of the ميديكيد funding it would normally receive if it were a U.S. state (See http://www.magiccarpetautotransport.com/auto-transport/puerto-rico-auto-transport.php ). However, Medicare providers receive less-than-full state-like reimbursements for services rendered to beneficiaries in Puerto Rico, even though the latter paid fully into the system (See ). It has also been estimated (See http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2007/mar07/07-03-28.html) that, because the population of the Island is greater than that of 50% of the States, if it were a state, Puerto Rico would have six to eight seats in the U.S. Congress' House of Representatives, in addition to the two seats in the Senate.(See http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2007/mar07/07-03-28.html, http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-17-4-c.html# and http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&sid=cp1109rs5H&refer=&r_n=hr597.110  [Note that for the later, the official US Congress database website, you will need to resubmit a query. The document in question is called "House Report 110-597 – PUERTO RICO DEMOCRACY ACT OF 2007." These are the steps to follow: http://www.thomas.gov  --> Committee Reports --> 110 --> drop down "Word/Phrase" and pick "Report Number" --> type "597" next to Report Number. This will provide the document "House Report 110-597 – PUERTO RICO DEMOCRACY ACT OF 2007", then from the Table of Contents choose "BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION".]). Another misconception is that the import/export taxes collected by the U.S. on products manufactured in Puerto Rico are all returned to the Puerto Rico Treasury. This is not the case. Such import/export taxes are returned only for rum products, and even then the US Treasury keeps a portion of those taxes (See the "House Report 110-597 – PUERTO RICO DEMOCRACY ACT OF 2007" mentioned above.)