Portal talk:Puerto Rico/Did you know-Puerto Rico?

This article was nominated for deletion and the final results are here: Articles for deletion/Did You Know - Puerto Rico Tony the Marine 04:50, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Prettier?

As it stands the article looks like a collection of text snippets. It is too cluttered. The facts should be organized by topic and separated using headlines. --Stux 05:11, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Reverted Edits

Hi Hectorlavoe, with regards to these edits, I may not understand why you are so adamant about keeping your edits the way you want it, but here is why the changes I made I believe make much more sense:

• The article that you listed as a source starts out with the following quote:

  There are eight accepted criteria used to determine whether an entity is an independent country (also known as a State with a capital "s") or not. (emphasis added)

The article itself makes it clear that it is talking about independent countries, eliminating any ambiguities, and therefore not redundant.

• The entry for country from Dictionary.com (based on the Merriam-Webster dictionary I beleive) lists several definitions for country, including:
  1. a state or nation
  2. the territory of a nation (both of these refer to your use of country)
  3. but also more ambigous definitions such as: any considerable territory demarcated by topographical conditions, by a distinctive population, etc.
  4. and from WorldNet (further below in the page): a politically organized body of people under a single government
  5. the people who live in a nation or country
• Even the definition of nation is as ambigous:
  1. a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own
  2. an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language or cognate languages

In other words, the defintions of coutry and nation are not just used to denote politically independent states but also groups of people with similar ethnic or socio-political backgrounds. In short, it is better to be specific about terms than leave terms up to the reader to interpret. That is the reason I reverted your edits. I invite you to discuss the topic rather than incite any kind of edit war. --Stux 21:41, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

• Hectorlavoe, to blantly state that Puerto Rico is not a country or nation is wrong. Puerto Rico is a "Nation" with its own culture, customs, traditions and Spanish dialect. The correct term would be as stated by User:Stux. Puerto Rico is not an "independent country" and that is a fact. Continous reverts on your behave maybe deemed as vandalism and you maybe blocked from further editing. Look, we want your contributions in Wiki, but one thing that we do not tolerate is the posting of a statement which may be considered as POV or politically inclined. Remember, I already told you that the "Did you know-Puerto Rico" is for little known facts and not for commonly known ones. Tony the Marine 00:46, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

You may want to read the United Nations Special Commitee on Decolonization press release regarding Puerto Rico's self-determination process [1]. Specifically this text:

Reiterating that the Puerto Rican people constitute a Latin American and Caribbean nation that has its own unequivocal national identity, the Special Committee would call upon...

Therefore, there shouldn't be any problem if 'nation' or 'country' is used to refer to Puerto Rico or to things related to Puerto Rico. Scotland, Wales, and other entities are widely referred to as nations, even by non-nationalists.

Hectorlavoe, I ask you to please refrain from reverting again. That "Puerto Rico is not an independent country" is a fact. To state that it isn't a "country" just because it doesn't have its' independence is POV regardless of a definition which maybe incorrect. Tony the Marine 02:21, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Oldest Cathedral in the Western Hemisphere?

Construction of the San Juan Cathedral did not begin until 1521 when Monsignor Alonso Manso picked the plot of land and began work. Work on the Santo Domingo Cathedral began in 1516. The Santo Domingo Cathedral was consecrated in 1541. The San Juan Cathedral was not consecrated until 1865. Not even the San Juan Cathedral makes the claim that it is the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, it only claims it is the first church of Puerto Rico. Flybd5 17:54, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Re "one of the oldest", nicely done, Tony. I like that better than my idea. :) Flybd5 18:52, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

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Item #11 of the "General" list (on alleged non-payment of federal income taxes)

@Marine 69-71:, I'm pinging you about this because I believe you, more than anybody else, maintain the "Did You Know" section in the PR WikiProject, but everyone else is welcome to comment.

Item 11 states:

"[Did you know] That... by mutual agreement with the United States Congress, Puerto Rico is an independent taxation authority, and therefore Puerto Rico residents do not pay federal income taxes? Puerto Ricans living on the island instead pay income taxes to the local taxation authority."

However, this statement should be eliminated because it is not true for this reason:

Puerto Ricans do pay federal income taxes

The DYK statement is not true; Puerto Ricans do pay federal income taxes. (By "Puerto Ricans", I mean American citizens residents of Puerto Rico)

To make the DYK correct, it should say "by mutual agreement with the United States Congress, Puerto Rico is an independent taxation authority, and therefore many Puerto Rico residents do not pay federal income taxes". However, I am proposing the entire item #11 be eliminated because, even that statement then begs the question, "Well, but many residents in any state don't pay federal income taxes either, so what's the difference?" (Incidentally, the second statement that Puerto Ricans living on the island instead pay income taxes to the local taxation authority is irrelevant and distracting and should be removed from there altogether because that statement is like saying, New Yorkers living in New York pay income taxes to the State of New York. That is, the statement is like stating that the sky is blue: an exercise in triviality and a waste of bytes.)

The fact is that, contrary to common misconception, residents of Puerto Rico do pay federal income taxes, and the following cites will prove it.
Cites that prove Puerto Ricans do pay federal income taxes:
The following Puerto Ricans pay the US federal income tax:

1. Puerto Rico residents who work for the federal government (e.g., postal employees, federal agents of any of the federal executive and judicial branches, etc.)
2. Puerto Ricans who do business with the federal government
3. Puerto Rico-based corporations that intend to send funds to the U.S.
4. Puerto Rico residents who are members of the U.S. military
5. Puerto Rico residents who earned income from sources outside Puerto Rico

It has been estimated that close to 50% of PR residents live below the poverty line. If you consider that even being above the poverty line does not automatically equate with you having to file the federal tax return, it would be fair to estimate that about 65% of the population wouldn't be required to file federal taxes even if PR was a state. This means about 2/3 (about 67%) of PR families don't need to file federal taxes even if PR was a state, or that only about 1/3 of families would have to file (about 1 million people) as a state. Considering an average 4 members to a family, this is approximately 250,000 people would have to file federal taxes if PR were a state. It has been estimated there are currently some 25,000 federal employees in PR. This means that currently, under the commonwealth, about 10% of the population has to file federal taxes, as opposed to the 250,000 that would have to file if PR was a state. However, even 10% is a sizeable chunk of the federal tax-paying population in PR currently paying federal income taxes to claim, as DYK item 11 does, that Puerto Ricans do not pay federal income taxes. And, this 10% reflects federal income taxes paid only by Group #1 (of the 5 Groups above); add those Puerto Ricans paying federal income taxes because they fall into groups #2 thru #5, and the percentage of Puerto Ricans paying federal income taxes will be even higher. Mercy11 (talk) 22:21, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

I think it's very important to get the facts straight on this because it is often repeated that Puerto Ricans do not pay federal taxes. It seems incorrect to make a blanket statement that Puerto Ricans in PR do not pay federal taxes when all of these instances, of them paying federal taxes, are taken into consideration. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 00:51, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Glad you mentioned that ("Puerto Ricans in PR do not pay federal taxes") because, since you just said "federal taxes" as opposed to what the DYK has ("federal income taxes"), it brings up another point which I will detail below... Mercy11 (talk) 01:12, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Just wanted to mention that your explanation seems sound. What I understand is that there are some commonwealth residents who do pay federal income taxes. That means we can't say "they don't", unless the DYI statement were reworded to say "blah, blah, blah, blah with some exceptions."... It'd be weird to have to add that caveat. Perhaps the # 11 statement should be eliminated.The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 20:13, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

I agree it would read weird, so that wouldn't be an elegant solution either. I propose we just spell as it is, namely, "That... Puerto Rico residents do pay federal taxes, including federal income taxes? We can then wikilink it to Taxation in Puerto Rico article. It may sound bold, but that's the reality: Puerto Ricans do pay federal taxes including federal income taxes. With the wikilink, the reader can then go to the "Taxation in Puerto Rico" article to learn that federal taxes --income or otherwise-- are paid by Puerto Ricans and learn about that specific rules that guide those obligations. Because the, I believe, only other option would be to remove the item altogether. However, I wouldn't want to do that since the purpose of an encyclopedia is to disseminate information (actually, to educate), and this would be a great opportunity to disseminate the right information. Think about it: everyone out there is reading left and right the fake news that Puerto Ricans don't pay federal taxes...no wonder Congress is the first one to hold back its purse and not distribute the fair amount of funds that Puerto Ricans deserve! All of those Congresspeople are fed that fake news by their staffers who are themselves fed the news from the news media! If you go to the U.S. mainstream media there isn't a single outlet out there (of scores of them) who hasn't published at least one article in the last 12 months alone stating that Puerto Ricans do not pay federal taxes. It's utter misinformation! Mercy11 (talk) 04:33, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Puerto Ricans pay all other federal taxes, just as mainland Americans do

The DYK statement is misleading, albeit unintentionally. It can cause confusion as readers generally equate the payment of "federal taxes" with the payment of "federal income taxes" which are two different concepts. However, all Puerto Ricans pay all other federal taxes, just as mainland US Americans do.

Cites that prove Puerto Ricans do pay all other sorts of federal taxes:
Residents of Puerto Rico also pay the following U.S. federal taxes, which is just as it is in the 50 States and DC:

1. Customs taxes, which are subsequently returned to the Puerto Rico Treasury (but see Customs Taxes Misconception Note below.)
2. Import/export taxes
3. Federal commodity taxes
4. Payroll Taxes, including:
   1. Social Security
   2. Medicare

The official cites above prove Puerto Ricans in the Island pay, not just federal income taxes, but also all other sorts of federal taxes. Mercy11 (talk) 01:12, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Moreover, as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details":
Because the cutoff point for income taxation in Puerto Rico is lower than that imposed by 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 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" Simply stated, because the percentage of people in Puerto Rico below the federally-defined poverty line is much greater than that of any state in the Union, even if Puerto Rico were a state --and therefore the federal tax laws applied the same as in the rest of the states-- it would still be true that some Puerto Ricans (arguably, most Puerto Ricans) would not be paying federal income taxes anyway. The net effect is that, whether or not Puerto Rico was a state, some Puerto Ricans would not be paying federal income taxes. However, this is not now (2020) nor would be later (if PR became a state) any different than it is in the 50 States and DC, where some Americans do not pay federal income taxes. Mercy11 (talk) 01:51, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Custom Taxes Misconception Note: Another misconception is that the customs 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 customs taxes are returned only for rum products, and even then, the US Treasury keeps a portion of those taxes.

It has also been noted that "Residents of Puerto Rico...are obliged to pay exactly the same Social Security and Medicare taxes that fellow U.S. citizens in the 50 states and the District must pay. For most of [Puerto Rico]'s wage-earners, moreover, those outlays far exceed the federal income-tax liabilities they would bear if Puerto Rico were a state."
Mercy11 (talk) 03:19, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

The IRS Topic No. 901 is here.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 02:39, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Isn't that what I said? Where did I go wrong? Mercy11 (talk) 02:47, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm just including links to the places for details from "the horse's mouth". ...and Pub. 1321, so everything is in one place, for review. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 02:51, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Right. Mercy11 (talk) 02:58, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

These IRS publications discuss federal income taxes delineating who in Puerto Rico has to pay them. Of course, the term federal taxes and federal income taxes can be confusing to readers. Some people, when they read # 11, could think that PR doesn't pay federal taxes, when in actuality they do. Sure some Puerto Ricans don't pay tax to the US federal government on their personal income earned in P.R., but some do as you showed with refs, in items 1-5 in the Puerto Ricans do pay federal income taxes subsection above. The item # 11 should be reworded or eliminated.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 20:20, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

I agree. The terms "federal taxes" and "federal income taxes" can be (erroneously) used interchangeably creating confusion to readers and that's because most readers equate the two concepts. For example, who hasn't been asked around March or early April "Hey, did you file your taxes yet?" when what they actually mean is "Hey, did you file your INCOME taxes yet?" ? And yet, we don't think twice about it and just answer yes or no right away! And, because the two terms can be easily mixed up, that is also part of the problem with the DYK item#11 and, as such, is also something that needs fixing. To that effect, I am adding a new subsection further below, with cites, to discuss/clarify this "federal taxes mixed-up" problem. I am going to title it "People equate "paying federal taxes" with "paying federal income taxes." You can take a look at it and tell me what you think. Mercy11 (talk) 04:33, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Puerto Ricans not only pay all types of federal taxes but, in fact, subsidize the Americans' own social programs

Item #11 is stating a (seemingly true) fact but out of context, because there are many "equalizing forces" that aren't mentioned there, making the statement "cherry-picking". For example:

1. As residents of Puerto Rico pay into Social Security, Puerto Ricans are eligible for Social Security benefits upon retirement, yet they are excluded from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which Stateside residents receive, turning Puerto Ricans into "SSI subsidizers" for the benefit of the Americans in the mainland.
2. The Island receives less than 15% of the Medicaid funding it would normally receive if it were a U.S. state.
3. 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, again, turning Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico into "Medicare subsidizers" for the benefit of the mainland American elderly.
4. In general, "many federal social welfare programs have been extended to Puerto Rico residents, although usually with caps inferior to those allocated to the states."

These additional facts above make the DYK statement even more pathetic. Mercy11 (talk) 03:23, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

I wasn't sure what you meant by "pathetic" but now in reading how Puerto Ricans pay into, yet are capped in what they receive, I can see how the statement might be "pathetic" because a statement that can be so easily misconstrued is "sad" - which is a synonym for "pathetic". This whole thing sucks. Re: #1 here, is currently in the court system- whether SSI should be extended to residents of Puerto Rico and whether denying them of SSI is / was unconstitutional. The medicaid caps are very horrible for the island and the main reason why so many doctors are just leaving the commonwealth for the U.S. Thanks for looking into this and taking the time to explain this in your most eloquent way.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 20:24, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

As I was saying, I would call it an oversimplification of a complex topic. I would call it a mistake. People are pathetic. Actions are pathetic. But I don't think we can characterize the DYI statement itself as "pathetic"... I would say it's mistaken or an oversimplification of a complex topic. I would call it a statement that needs caveats. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 20:23, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Confusingly, people generally equate "paying federal taxes" with "paying federal income taxes"

In addition to being false and being (unintentionally) misleading, the DYK statement also lends itself to confusion and, consequentially, to misinformation.

It is a reality that many people equate the "federal income taxes" of the DYK item with just "federal taxes". As such, the DYK item, unwillingly, lends itself to misinformation because, as the cites above have shown, Puerto Ricans actually pay both, federal income taxes --specifically-- as well as (all others) federal taxes in general. Therefore, it is best to just state the totally-correct "Puerto Rico residents do pay federal taxes, including federal income taxes". This would, in fact, educate the reader much better than the misconception perpetuated by the existing DYK item#11 that Puerto Ricans do not pay federal income taxes.

In fact, this misconception (that Puerto Ricans do not pay any federal taxes at all) is so widespread that in a recently-heard case at the US Federal Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the Court itself called it out because even the well-educated, well-trained, appellant attorneys had themselves, on the record, made the mistake of confusing the two, and this came, as the Court pointed out, to the peril of their own clients (the attorneys' client was the US Social Security Administration). (Note: The case was appealed to the US Supreme Court by the Trump Administration (See, Fallece Juan R. Torruella, decano de los jueces federales puertorriqueños: El único boricua en servir en el Primer Circuito de Apelaciones tenía 87 años y fue un velerista olímpico. Oscar J. Serrano. Noticel. 26 October 2020. Accessed 4 November 2020. ))
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Mercy11 (talk • contribs) 04:34, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

"That in 2018 the IRS collected approximately $3,443,334,000 from Puerto Rico taxpayers clearly undermines the contention that Puerto Rico residents do not contribute to the federal treasury." Well isn't that a nice even number? --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 06:09, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

This is such an important sub-topic that I am already drafting prose to support this. I don't think how much Puerto Ricans in the Island pay in federal taxes should be mingled with the subject of the confusion over "paying federal taxes" vs. "paying federal income taxes". Mercy11 (talk) 23:01, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Puerto Ricans pay more in federal income taxes every year than residents of six other US states

"From 1998 up until 2006, when Puerto Rico was hit by its present economic recession, Puerto Rico consistently contributed more than $4 billion annually in federal taxes and impositions into the national fisc." This was more that the IRS collected from taxpayers in Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Alaska, as well as the Northern Mariana Islands.

Data from the IRS shows that even while the Commonwealth was going thru its economic crisis, it still collected a sizable amount of taxes from Puerto Ricans. For example, from 2010 to 2015 the IRS collected about $3.5 billion every year from Puerto Rican taxpayers in the Island.

Even despite being without electricity for nearly one year, as well as without running potable water during much of that time after the 2017 Hurricane Maria, as well as through the 2020 earthquake swarm, Puerto Rican continued to pay sizable amounts in federal taxes through the IRS: $3.4B in 2017 and $3.4B in 2018. "That in 2018 the IRS collected approximately $3,443,334,000 from Puerto Rico taxpayers clearly undermines the contention that Puerto Rico residents do not contribute to the federal treasury."
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Mercy11 (talk • contribs) 23:36, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

To summarize,

1. From 1998 up until 2006, when Puerto Rico was hit by its present economic recession, Puerto Rico consistently contributed more than $4 billion annually in federal taxes and impositions into the national fisc.
2. Current (2020) tax contribution of Puerto Ricans to the Federal Treasury hovers around $3.4B.
3. The residents of Puerto Rico make contributions to the Federal Treasury in amounts higher than taxpayers of at least six states (Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Alaska).
4. Since based on only a fraction of its population paying federal income taxes Puerto Ricans currently pay more in federal taxes than six other states, if Puerto Rico were to become a state, it would likely be contributing to the federal Treasury more than, perhaps, a quarter to half of the other states in the Union. That is, it would likely be subsidizing other states more so than it does now.
5. The fact that only some residents of Puerto Rico pay federal income taxes is no different than it is in other states: whether Connecticut (the state that pays the most per adult resident) or Mississippi (the state with the lowest average federal tax burden); in every state only some residents pay federal income taxes, and Puerto Rico is no different.
   

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Mercy11 (talk • contribs) 01:47, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

Puerto Ricans pay all US federal taxes, but they have no equitable representation in the US government

1. Although Puerto Ricans pay federal taxes, including federal income taxes, Puerto Ricans have no representation in the US Congress. They also cannot vote for the US president either.
2. The US allows Puerto Rico to send one quasi-representative to the House of the US Congress. This Resident Commissioner has the voice power but not the vote power in the plenary of the US Congress.
3. This arrangement has been criticized as taxation with representation.
4. It has been estimated 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 House, in addition to the two seats in the Senate.

This lack of representation means that for over 100 years of colonial rule Puerto Rico has been making contributions towards funding US social programs yet it has received little and at times (as in the case of the SSI discussed above) nothing in return for lack of voting that would favor the Puerto Rican economy.
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Mercy11 (talk • contribs) 03:12, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

Puerto Ricans also pay Commonwealth of Puerto Rico taxes

In addition to paying federal taxes, Puerto Ricans also pay Commonwealth of Puerto Rico taxes. Also, "because Congress denies Puerto Rico equal treatment under certain key federal programs, the government of Puerto Rico must make up the difference by imposing local income-tax rates that are more onerous than the combined federal and state rates applicable in most other parts of the United States." In 2003, taxes Puerto Ricans paid to the Commonwealth government included income tax, property taxes, municipal license taxes, excise taxes and payroll taxes.
Mercy11 (talk) 03:19, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

Proposals

#1: Move item to the end (#23), basically re-use current wording "don't pay federal taxes", followed by exceptions when they do

Excellent observation and point well taken. I suggest that the item in question be rephrased. You have my blessings in doing so.Tony the Marine (talk) 03:42, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

The Eloquent Peasant and Mercy11 I moved that section from 11 to 23 and made some adjustments. Tony the Marine (talk) 02:18, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

Marine 69-71, What you did is way too long. The result lacks effectiveness. The item should be no longer than half of what was there before. This is very important subject to throw it at the end. Really, Tony, can you imagine that The Eloquent Peasant and I have been discussing this item, this profusely, for these many (4) days, in all these details, adding nearly 40 cites, and that we have come so far just to write it up with the basically same language as before? a language that perpetuates the misconception that Puerto Ricans don't pay federal taxes? Com'on let's get real! Have you read the entire Court order? Even the top US Court just below the Supreme Court, has already stated Puerto Ricans do pay federal taxes, including federal incomes taxes. The Court didn't say "Puerto Ricans don't pay federal taxes, except in these cases..." No! the Court said "Puerto Rico consistently contributed more than $4 billion annually in federal taxes" and "This is more than taxpayers in several of the states contributed, including Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Alaska" ([2], pp.26-27.) The Court didn't make any "if's, and's, or but's". The Court said it as it is, "Even since 2006 to the present (April 2020), Puerto Ricans continue to pay substantial sums into the federal treasury through the IRS: $3,443,334,000 in 2018" ([3], pp.26-27.) It then went on to explain why Puerto Rico residents paid the $3.4B to the IRS, "Puerto Rico's contributions include the payment of federal income taxes by residents of Puerto Rico on income from sources outside Puerto Rico for which they are liable under the Internal Revenue Code, the regular payment of federal income taxes by all federal employees in Puerto Rico, 26U.S.C.§933, as well as the full Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment Compensation taxes that are paid in the rest of the United States, see 26U.S.C.§§3101, 3111, 3121(e), 3301, 3306(j)." ([4], pp.27-28.)

So, please, per the DYK rule that "Articles mentioned should be adequately sourced, or at least cannot have the fact's verifiability questioned by another user", please let's remove those changes until we can reach consensus of the wording. That said, my proposal will be below. Mercy11 (talk) 05:27, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

#2: Move item to the top (#1) and reword shorter, in the form of "do pay federal taxes", linked to the Taxation in Puerto Rico article

How about if Item #11 is instead moved to position #1 and changed from the original wording that was there before ("That... Puerto Rico residents do not pay federal income taxes?") to read "That...Puerto Rico residents do pay federal taxes, including federal income taxes".

This is short and sweet. Plus, it is true. The reader can then use the provided link to Taxation in Puerto Rico to discover on his/her own why this is a DYK item at all, namely, because the opposite, that Puerto Rico pays no federal taxes, is a misconception.

(1) Why position #1, and not #23 or #11?

Because, who cares that the cuatro (currently at #1) is PR's national instrument? Readers care about death and taxes. This is why healthcare (extending life) and jobs/taxes (economy) have been the top election topics in the US in the last 20 years.[5][6][7][8] So, listing it at #1, instead of burying it at #23, will give it a prominence that is consistent with its importance to readers.

(2) Why "Puerto Rico residents pay taxes, and they do so in such and such and such cases" (instead of Tony's much longer proposal above which partially reads "That... While it is basically true that Puerto Ricans living on the island instead pay income taxes to the local taxation authority, there are cases where Puerto Rican residents are required by law to pay Federal Income taxes A, B, C, D, E.)"?

Because it is short and sweet. We cannot allow to lose the reader by listing all sorts of cases within the DYK item; details should be the job of the article that is linked.

To summarize, the essential differences between the 2 proposals so far are:
Tony's wording is: "Puerto Rico residents don't pay taxes, except in such and such and such cases." (the cases are listed as part of the DYK Item.)
Mercy11's wording is: "Puerto Rico residents do pay taxes, and they do so in such and such and such cases." (the cases are NOT listed as part of the DYK item but instead via the linked Taxation in Puerto Rico article.)
Mercy11 (talk) 05:35, 1 November 2020 (UTC)
Peasant's wording is: In terms of tax on income, most residents of Puerto Rico don’t file US federal income tax returns. However, most residents of Puerto Rico do pay the federal taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 19:45, 1 November 2020 (UTC) or

In terms of tax on income, most bonafide residents of Puerto Rico don’t file federal income tax returns, but most do pay into the Social Security and Medicare fund. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 21:31, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

@The Eloquent Peasant: If we want to help stop the conspiracy theory that Puerto Rico residents don't pay federal taxes, we would need to start by reversing your statement so it reads "Most residents of Puerto Rico do pay the federal taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, but in terms of tax on income, most residents of Puerto Rico don’t file US federal income tax returns."

However, even that reversed form has problems, albeit less: If we are to make an impact on the misconception/conspiracy theory, we don't want to get involved with relative words like that "most" qualifier. There are several problems with using "most" that should make us run away from it as fast as we can:

1. Did the Federal Appeals Court use that word? If not, then we too should avoid it.
2. When we say "most residents of Puerto Rico pay federal taxes that fund SS and MC", this begs the question, "why only 'most'?" If the answer is (which is, perhaps, what you were thinking when you wrote that) "Well because only people who work pay those taxes", then how is that any different from the residents of, say, Texas? That is, isn't it true that most residents of Texas pay the federal taxes that fund SS and MC as well? Isn't it true that the reason most, and not all, residents of Texas pay SS and Medicare taxes do so because, just like Puerto Rico, if you don't work you don't get those taxes taken out? That is, those Texas residents who don't work don't have to pay them, just like in Puerto Rico? Hopefully you can see what my point is.
3. Then, again, your second sentence reads with another "most": "most residents of Puerto Rico don’t file US federal income tax returns", which once more creates problems. For example, how do we know that most residents of Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Alaska (the other 6 states in the Court decision) also don't file US federal tax returns? I bring this up because the Court said PR residents pay more in federal taxes than the residents of those 6 states. What's the reason PR paid more taxes than those 6 states? The Court didn't say PR paid more in SS and MC than those 6 other states; it said it paid more in federal taxes than them. So, it's obvious your wording breaks the taxes into categories (income and payroll taxes), and yet the Court didn't. If the Court didn't, why should we? I think it is because there exists an unconscious tendency to dig deeper to find where the hidden "fallacy" lies, and by breaking everything up into categories (payroll taxes and filing income taxes) and studying it further from there we can somehow find where the "fallacy" is. But there is no fallacy. And yet, for some reason, we need to find it because we are destined to continue to support the old idea that PR doesn't pay federal taxes. But, no, we don't need to continue perpetuating that misconception : that's exactly what the Court has just debunked, and not only debunked it, but debunked it big time: saying that PR not only makes those federal contributions but that its contributions are "substantial" (p26). Why should we continue to perpetuate the same old lie by diluting Puerto Rico's contributions to the federal treasury with qualifiers such as "most"? The Court speaks of taxes in general, that is, it looked at contributions to the federal treasury regardless of motive, regardless of what federal law mandated those contributions, whether the payroll tax laws or the income tax laws.
4. We don't know if "most" residents of Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Alaska don't file US federal taxes either, so why start using "most" when other states don't use "most". Someone could argue that the reason other states don't say "most" residents don't pay federal income taxes, could be because most residents, in fact, do. But, do we know that, or are we just acting from gut feeling? If we are, then it doesn't belong in Wikipedia.
5. The statement "most bonafide residents of Puerto Rico don’t file federal income tax returns" isn't found anywhere in the Court decision. In fact, the phrase "bona fide" is never found in the Decision at all relative to Puerto Rico residents (it's used only once and relative to residents of the NMI, not PR).
6. Someone might argue that, "well, anyway, the reason PR paid more taxes than the residents of those 6 states is because the population in those 6 states is lower than PR's". But, so what? the point is that people in those 6 states get SSI benefits that residents of PR don't get even though Puerto Rico residents contribute to the federal government just as residents of those other states do. For example, because PR has 3 to 10 times the population of those states, 3 to 10 times as many Puerto Rico residents as residents of those other states have died in American wars. Yet Puerto Rico residents don't get the SSI benefit while residents of those other states do. Likewise, even though Puerto Rico residents pay more in federal taxes than the residents of those 6 other states, Puerto Rico residents don't get the SSI.
7. Now, Mississippi is the poorest state in the US ([9]), and it has a population comparable to PR's (3.0M vs 3.2M). We know that PR paid $3.4B in taxes and MS paid $6.6B ([10]), which is roughly twice as much as paid by PR. So here we have two locales, PR and MS, with roughly similar populations, but one (MS) pays twice as much in taxes as the other (PR). Other than difference in wealth (meaning, PR is poorer than MS ([11]), the one major difference between the two is that one (MS) is a state and the other (PR) isn't. So, PR is already paying 50% of the federal taxes that a similar state pays even though PR isn't a state. It is clear from this that emphasizing that "most" PR residents don't pay federal income taxes or that "most" PR residents don't file federal income tax return" are generalizations on the side of the conspiracy theory that PR residents don't pay federal taxes. As such, we need to move away from those "most" statements.
8. If PR residents are paying 50% the taxes of similar states, can we fairly say that "most bonafide residents of Puerto Rico don’t file federal income tax returns" when we don't know if most Mississippi residents don’t file federal income tax returns either? Can you see my point here? Again, this is a flaw in that generalization, and we shouldn't be using "most".
9. PR has a 44% poverty rate([12]); MS's is 22%([13]). In other words, PR has twice the poverty rate as MS. It is, then, no wonder PR pays only 50% the federal taxes as MS: poor people pay no taxes. This makes it clear that if PR is currently paying $3.4B in taxes with a 44% poverty rate and MS is paying $6.6$B with a 22% poverty rate, then PR is paying comparable federal taxes as MS and, by extrapolation, as the rest of the US states. By extrapolation, PR is already paying in federal taxes what it would pay if it were a state. This shows that the statement "most residents of Puerto Rico don’t file US federal income tax returns" is unjustified because the US collects its federal taxes whether or not Puerto Rico residents file them. The Federal Appeals Court knew this, and this is why the Court's decision doesn't speak in terms of "filling income tax returns", but in terms of "contributing...to the national fisc" (p.26), which is, ultimately, what puts money in the Feds.

Hopefully you can see why it is that I must oppose the use of any phrases that inject relative comparisons into the DYK item, like "most don't file federal tax returns" or "most pay Social Security and Medicare". Those statement are as misleading as the old misconception that PR residents don't pay federal taxes. Even the claim that most PR residents don't pay federal income taxes is misleading, not because it is not true, but because it assumes that, somehow, most should pay them but don't. No, most residents should not pay federal taxes to begin with. And the reason is because most residents are poor: It is not because PR is an independent taxation authority. It is not because PR has a mutual agreement with Congress. It is not because Puerto Rico is not a state. Those are just ammunition for the old conspiracy theory that Puerto Rico residents don't pay federal taxes. The only true reason Puerto Rico pays what it pays into the federal treasury is because it is poor. Not because it is an independent taxation entity, not because it is not a state, not because Puerto Rico has a mutual agreement with Congress. If PR was many times richer than the richest state in the Union, you bet Puerto Rico would be paying more in federal taxes than any other state in the Union as well.

Mercy11 (talk) 05:19, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

@Mercy11: Maybe, your summary sentence in boldface should be the DYI statement and you, dear, should have been a lawyer, if you're not already one in the real life. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 14:05, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

Mercy11, I fully trust your judgement my friend. Please make the proper fixes. Tony the Marine (talk) 14:08, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

@The Eloquent Peasant: @Marine 69-71: OK. I will now be working on ensuring all the cites are correct, up-to-date, link to non-dead pages, and actually reflect what's being attributed to. They all should; so, this is just a QA just-in-case exercise. Will update you then, or simply watch this page. Mercy11 (talk) 04:20, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

References

"Did you know-Puerto Rico?" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Did you know-Puerto Rico?. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 January 8#Did you know-Puerto Rico? until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Lettler^{hello • contribs} 14:30, 8 January 2021 (UTC)