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Comment by mjmahone17 | Hacker News Reader

They should start paying federal taxes as soon as the federal government allows them to become a state. Until that happens, they’d be getting taxed with no representation.

But they are US Citizens still. And the federal government subsidizes plenty of infrastructure into areas that pay relatively little federal tax, because we as a country care about fellow citizens’ well-being.

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>They should start paying federal taxes as soon as the federal government allows them to become a state. Until that happens, they’d be getting taxed with no representation.

Great, then they should get no money from the rest of us.

>But they are US Citizens still.

So what? Puerto Rico isn't a state.

They have no say in the matter, is the point. Because they aren’t a state, and aren’t allowed to become a state, taxing them would literally be applying one of the core justifications for US rebellion to Puerto Rico. Do we want Puerto Rico to revolt? Then we should either make them a state or not force them to pay federal taxes.

But unless we’re going to give them independence, we still have an obligation to protect and, to some extent, provide for them.

Give? They vote every couple years for the status they have.

Let them pay their own way.

I feel the same way about Missouri. They’ve constantly voted to not modernize their electrical grid to the point an internal commission says its driving away state tax revenue.

They also are a net drain on the treasury. They get more federal dollars out than they put in.

Let them pay their own way.

They can vote themselves into being a state whenever they feel ready.

Like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_status_referendum...

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