Internal Frontiers

Sustained migration to the mainland United States has weakened Puerto Rico’s tax base over the past two decades. A shrinking population has reduced the workforce and lowered government revenues from both income and consumption taxes, as overall economic activity declines.

Puerto Rico’s government has increasingly relied on federal transfers to sustain public operations, underscoring the need for robust administrative capacity to manage these funds effectively and uphold claims of parity and fairness.

While the case for equality carries moral and political weight, strengthening fiscal and administrative efficiency is essential to turn these principles into reality.

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Rico’s exclusion from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) didn’t violate the Constitution and noted that full parity would require changes to the island’s tax structure. In practical terms, parity entails both benefits and responsibilities.

If Congress extended the SSI to Puerto Rico, nearly 9% of its population under age 65 would qualify in 2022. By comparison, West Virginia—the state with the highest share of recipients—reported approximately 4%. The gap reflects not only differences in need, but also the scale of federal fiscal commitment that parity would require.

Also, in 2022, the USDA conducted a study to evaluate the feasibility of transitioning Puerto Rico’s Nutritional Assistance Program (NAP), an annual capped grant available since 1982, to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) available in the states.

The SNAP study identified some concerns. In the first place, Puerto Rico’s history of low public-sector wages would make it difficult to hire and retain caseworkers, leading to inconsistencies in eligibility determinations and in fraud detection.

In the second place, the island would be subject to work requirements, not mandated under the actual NAP, and Puerto Rico’s government would need to develop a self-sufficiency plan from SNAP to work.

Third, Puerto Rico’s NAP still uses paper case files, which are vulnerable during natural disasters. The government estimated that system upgrades would take about two years of the 10-year transition and would cost $17 million to digitize the records.

Puerto Rico’s government had the opportunity from 2022 to 2026 to address some findings and ease congressional concerns, but did little to do so. In 2026, Congress excluded Puerto Rico from SNAP.

Puerto Rico has a pattern of initiating projects with federal funding but failing to finish or incorporate them into the government’s framework once federal financing ends.

While all U.S. territories face fiscal challenges, Puerto Rico stands alone under a federally imposed Fiscal Oversight and Management Board since 2016. That distinction reflects the degree to which fiscal and managerial concerns shape federal policy toward the island.

Federal lawmakers assess risk based on system dependability; ensuring local staff can administer programs accurately and processes withstand audits, building trust and confidence in future federal support.

Puerto Rico’s problem isn’t justice and parity; it’s execution. At the current pace, Puerto Rico risks losing access to future federal program expansions and underutilizing funds already allocated for disaster recovery.

That same pattern also reduces the likelihood that diaspora members will return, particularly those from states with more consistent public-sector performance.

The case for parity and fairness remains valid. However, without sustained administrative capacity, those claims will continue to face limits—not because they lack merit, but because reliable performance has yet to keep pace with them.