puerto rico: As much as is said that they don't pay taxes they do, and everyday that goes by they will end up paying more and more taxes and they also get the gas prices hiked. And they still don't get to vote for the president or have legit representation in Congress. Isn't it about time the truth comes out, and congress stops using Puerto Rico as an under the table kickback office.|||First I would to say that I live in Puerto Rico since I was 5 years old. My name is Antonio Vel谩zquez resident of Carolina, Puerto Rico. PR is a United States territory since 1898, we are American citizens since 1917 and we have a local constitution since 1952. We don't pay federal income or excise taxes. Recently a local 7% sales tax was approved. Most Puerto Rican's are indeed afraid of a federal income taxes as most americans. That said we should consider some facts, the average family income in PR is $ 8,000 according to US census about 69.9%. The biggest employer in PR is the local goverment with about 500,000 employees. If you compare Puerto Rican's local tax burden with any other american in any state, PR pays more income taxes to its local goverment than almost any american pays in federal,state or municipal income taxes combined. In simple terms we earn much less and pay much more. Puerto Rico's population is about 3.8 million and all are american citizens and none cannot vote for the president or have voting representation in congress. Statehood for Puerto Rico may be a hard sell but its a fair and moral solution for America.|||They are not afraid, they simply do not want to turn their nation into a Hawaii part 2, they do not want the fate of hawaiians who became a minority in their own country talking a foreign language while their own language became a secondary language. Puerto Rico has a rich culture and a strong national identity, that is why the US has never offered statehood to PR, they already have Canada and Quebec (who has a strong separatist movement) next door to know that multi-nation states do not work together for long and can break up anytime.|||I've been to Puerto Rico and I don't think you'd like to see it become a state, it's poorer than any of our states. We'd have to spend all kinds of money to upgrade everything. But yes, they do get the short end of the stick.