Should Puerto Rico be a state?

Puerto Rico cannot become a state without the majority of the residents agreeing to the annexation. This movement has been made many times before, and so far, Puerto Ricans have never voted in favor of it, so nothing’s ever become of it.
I have a feeling that hasn’t changed too much recently.

Yes, Puerto Rico should be a state. And so should Washington, DC. Or we can spin Puerto Rico off as its own country (probably can’t do that with DC). If we consider their citizens to be Americans, they should have all of the rights and responsibilities that come with that title.

First, here is the text of the bill, right on the Internet for all to see. Just like all bills in Congress, you can find it on the Library of Congress website.

Second, it appears to be a motion to let Puerto Rico vote on their potential statehood again. That means that if the bill passes, PR gets to vote – it’s not automatic that they become a state.

Third, PR has politely declined to become a state many times now. I have no reason to believe they’ll take us up on it this time.

Last, if for some reason they want statehood, I wouldn’t entirely write it off as a loss for the Right (link), as the people there are socially conservative. It would probably be a blue-leaning swing state.

If Puerto Rico was going to be a state, it would have happened already.

A little off the subject, but can Americans move to Puerto Rico with no problems? Do we need a passport to go there right now?

Where was it said that Congress is “secretly attempting to pass a bill”? I’m curious where that would come from.

@earthduzt: You can go all you want. It’s a domestic flight away.

I kind of like having just the fifty, so can we get rid of Texas?

Seriously though, why do we really need another state? Our economy is so screwed that the extra revenue will be less than a squirt of piss in the ocean, and we get pretty much every other benefit of having them as a state already. As for reinforcing the Dems, I think that people like Palin and Beck do that well enough.

So no, I don’t think we need PR as a state, and it appears that they don’t want to be one either.

So what would would be different?

Puerto Rico would get two Senators, five or six Representatives and the vote for President.

They already have US courts, and military protection/participation.

What else?

@jaytkay: They’d pay U.S. income taxes?

@bolwerk Federal income tax, that’s pretty big. Though I see they do pay Social Security and Medicare taxes.

@laureth Thank you for pointing out a couple misunderstandings the OP had about it being a “secret” bill, and that it was to allow them to become a state. I really mean no disrespect, but this seemed like a news item you’d hear from a VERY biased and uninformed news source, such as FOX news (which doesn’t usually give the WHOLE story, just whatever part fits their political agenda). I am glad there are people around here like Laureth who set the record straight. :)

Helpful and on-topic!

@jaytkay I fail to see how it’s that big a deal. I mean, they have a fairly small population (about 1% of the US population) and what people they do have are mostly poor enough that they wouldn’t pay taxes anyways (median income around $17K), so tell me this; how much tax revenue would we really gain?

This is where I got “secretly” . . . http://biggovernment.com/taylorking/2010/04/28/puerto-rico-51st-state-congress-scrambling-to-make-it-so/

@jerv I wasn’t thinking of “big impact on the US”, I was thinking “big difference for Puerto Ricans”. While the median income is $17k, I imagine the people with high-paying (for Puerto Rico) jobs probably appreciate not paying taxes.

But 50 is such a nice round number!

@deadleaf – Ah, you see, they got their information from Glenn Beck. Beck is notably less a source of news, and more a source of entertainment, something like a fictionalized “reality” TV show for the Right.

Based on what Glenn Beck professes through politics, him and I have plenty in common. As libertarians, of course. Thank you for informing me.

@jerv: corporate income taxes might be a bigger deal, of course.

Of course it should because of two resons. One its an American territory and almost all american land is a state(technically). Also im puerto rican. But its a pro-con question. So i really dont know.

We’d have to make room on the flag for a 51st star but I think it can be done. It’s already an American territory so let’s go ahead and make it a state. But, if we’re going to make Puerto Rico a state, does that mean we include other U.S. owned territories too like Guam and the Virgin Islands? Hmmm….....

With the 100 years + the US has contemplated on the idea of adding PR to the flag, I’m sure there’s a flag already made. Like the NBA title caps, already says winner.

@bolwerk You assume corporations pay taxes. Two thirds of them do not.

Once again Glenn Beck is doing his ignorant, misinformed, not fact checked conspiracy theory garbage. Why people use that guy as a basis to get news is beyond me. You see for yourself the exact words of the bill. Either he hasn’t bothered to actually read the bill, or he did, and he’s too simple to comprehend it. Really, it could go either way.

Here are proposed 51 states flags http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_state

I agree with @Bluefreedom that then Guam and others should be considered. I am guessing that maybe there has been a rumble in PR to vote again. I never hear about guam voting for statehood, maybe that does happen and I am unaware? Maybe it is known Guam has only a small minority of people who would want statehood so it is never an issue? If memory serves, I think the vote that was taken when Clinton was president put people in favor of statehood somewhere around 40 something percent. My memory could be wrong though. That is not that far from getting a majority.

Also, DC probably should have statehood so they can get their votes in the congress.

@JLeslie Guam has the population of a small city, 178,000, so I don’t think that is going to happen. Puerto Rico would be a medium sized state, 3,900,000, a tad more than Oregon.

No, for goodness sake.

@deadleaf – It’s one thing to have ideas and concepts in common, which is fine, and altogether another for his information to be accurate. I have no problem at all with conservative, libertarian, or liberal views that are backed up by fact. But Glenn is a little different. He tends to start with a grain of truth (like “there is a bill in Congress about Puerto Rico”) and then he adds layers of entertainment around it (like it’s a “secret” bill, or that it will “make PR a state if it passes”) that are not true. So there’s just enough truth in it to make the rest of it believable, if you don’t do any further research. And there are lotsnlots of people who really want to believe the Right/Libertarian agenda so much, that when Beck strokes that happy place, they are very likely to believe it, thinking no further research is needed. That is the difference between Glenntertainment and News.

@jaytkay Good point.

@mammal why?

@laureth I see and understand where you are going. Of course there are reasons for his exaggeration. I understand that too. However, assuming we forget about Beck for a moment, and I have asked the question about being a libertarian, and No ONE seems to want to get into that. People want to leave it to the Dems and Reps to do their magic. My point in this forum was that since Puerto Rico does not want to become a state, there is a HIGH probability that it will. Why? Remember the 2000 elections with Bush v Gore? Everyone knew that Florida was democratic and that they voted for Gore. Of course things will get twisted. There IS an agenda, there IS a force to be reckoned, and there IS a problem with the American people not taking things into their own hands. Puerto Rico, on the other hand…They will. There WOULD be consequences upon dissatisfaction. Now here I am speculating. I haven’t been to the island since 1998. Many things have changed. They are poor. They display and express the full ideal of poor staying poor and rich getting richer. I am not being opinionated too much, although it may seem so. I’m trying to be as descriptive as possible so that us Americans can get a generalization of what is Potential. Thank you.

@deadleaf Are you saying that the government would tamper with the vote of the Puerto Rican people?

It’s not just what I’m saying, that is what I am implying. I’m a soldier in the US Army. There is nothing I cannot believe to happen to our societies and government. Unfortunately.

@deadleaf Why would our government want to make Puerto Rico a state in your opinion?

I’m not smart enough to answer that question. Can I at least get a great question for this one? LMAO I’m hungry for some lurve. =(

@deadleaf – I’m not completely sure what you are getting at, then. Sure, there are bigger problems right now than giving PR a vote again, and I’m not sure why they’re on it, but which way do you think the vote will skew? Diebold (the voting machine company) is on record as saying they want to deliver votes to the GOP, since there are ties between the GOP and Diebold. Old news. However, it implies that vote shenanigans along the lines of Bush v Gore lean Republican. Are you afraid that PR won’t become a state?

@laureth I’m afraid that whatever the outcome is, it won’t be positive, for one; and that the country will suffer more and end up giving to the U.S. what they owe, for example, their homes and land. Maybe I am making a lot of it, but I have family that owns land there and it would really suck if in the next 20 years, My father or uncles have nothing.

Has anybody ever thought that the reason PR is relatively successful is because they are still an independent nation?

@deadleaf – If PR becomes a state, it would be like when any other state became a state. Nobody who owned land there lost it. Are you worried about Puerto Ricans having to pay Federal income tax? My guess is that’s one reason they keep voting down the idea of statehood.

Has anybody ever thought that the reason PR is relatively successful is because they are still an independent nation?

Being poorer than all 50 states makes them more successful than non-independent US states?

The taxation is not the problem, it’s the potential for land loss and losing it to the United States. What’s the problem with that? The island already lost most of it’s culture and agriculture to the spaniards, and left with nothing more than land. Puerto Rico is not what I want it to be, but to become a state would eliminate everything it means to me.

By what mechanism do you believe Puerto Ricans will lose their land? In other words, what has given you cause to fear that this is possible?

@jaytkay Compare the income to the cost of living there and you’ll realize that it may not be as bad as you think. And look at other aspects of their economy as well.

Earning $30k/yr as opposed to $15k means little when milk costs $3/gallon instead of $0.79, a fact that I know all too well after living in New England for a few decades.

@jerv

OK, I didn’t consider that. http://swz.salary.com/ tells me the cost of living in San Juan is “24.9% lower than in Chicago, IL.” They say salaries are 31% lower, too, but from my own experience I know trying to put one number on the difference is impossible.

@jaytkay Kudos to you for actually getting the numbers, but I have always taken that site with a grain of salt because they only account for the heart of the metropolitan areas. Trust me, I know what the wages in Cheshire County NH are like, and they got that one wrong. I also know that the numbers are considerably different for Portsmouth, NH than the part of NH where I lived which isn’t on those sites, or even within 50 miles of a place that is. The wage information and CoL information for where I currently live is similarly a bit inaccurate. By the numbers on the ‘net, you would think that I wouldn’t even be able to afford to pay attention, but I live in a modest 2BR place in a clean neighborhood,

I think it safe to say that the only way we could really know how the wages compare to the cost of living there is to get some Puerto Ricans posting here on Fluther

@deadleaf The US is not Castro’s Cuba. Why do you think land will be taken? Eminent Doman of some sort? Or, legal paperwork (deeds) are not in order for you family’s land?

@JLeslie It’s only a concern I have that it may be a possibility. I don’t know anything else.

I guess what I’m trying to ask, @deadleaf, is if you’re afraid of losing the land because of some reason that you heard somewhere, something that you logicked out in your head, or just a free-floating kind of anxiety? Knowing where the reasoning came from can help us help you figure out if it’s legit or not.

@laureth If we pay property taxes on a home paid in full, are we not subject to penalties that, although I may be thinking exaggerated, can impose a lien of some sort? Am I saying this right? In PR, they have a type of homestead act that exempts them from having to pay property tax. Could we lose that exemption should PR become a state? Yes and No.

There is no Federal property tax. Thus no Federal property tax exemption. That is a local issue.

@deadleaf it is true, @jaytkay is right, property taxes are local not federal. Even among our 50 states their are varying homestead laws regarding property taxes. FL has a 3% cap on how much your property tax can be raised each year, and gives a $25,000 exemption on property value to those who live in FL the majority of the year (in other words FL is their primary home). TN has a homested type of exemption for senior citizens so their property taxes cannot go way up. There are many states that have no such exemptions. If PR, even if it were a state, wanted to maintain its current property tax laws, I don’t see any reason why they would change.

They’re right. Property taxes are a local, not a federal, thing.

I just want to thank every single person who participated in this forum. I always appreciate the information provided. I learned a lot within this question, and I hope others have as well.

@jerv, If we add another state, we can’t ditch a state to keep the number because 50 isn’t divisible by 3. another state or four will keep the senate even. right now, one state must run BOTH of their senator in the same cycle. With another state, the senator count will even out.