Ley 165 del 2001

(No. 165)

(Approved December 1, 2001)

AN ACT

To create the "Special Sugar Excise Tax Account," which shall be deposited in Special Fund No. 229, known as the Agricultural Facilities Development Fund, which shall be transferred to and administered by the Integral Agricultural Development Fund (FIDA, Spanish acronym), which shall be used to bolster agriculture in Puerto Rico.

STATEMENT OF MOTIVES

Act No. 5 of October 8, 1987, as amended, known as the "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Excise Tax Act," provides for an excise tax of fourteen (14) cents for each pound or fraction thereof of sugar and its substitutes in Puerto Rico. Exempted from said tax is bulk sugar to be used in the manufacture of products, and that produced or manufactured by any person, whose total production in the most recent tax year, has not exceeded one million, two hundred thousand hundred weight of measured sugar, among other exceptions.

The sugar industry in Puerto Rico has changed, and therefore, its focus on agricultural aspects, the industrial phase, sugar marketing, and administrative matters should also change. The State continues to have an interest and power to regulate the marketing of sugar for the protection the consumers and farmers of cane sugar.

At present, the excise tax collected for sugar is deposited in the General Fund of the Commonwealth. The purpose of creating the Special Account of the Sugar Excise Tax is to deposit all monies collected for sugar excise taxes in Special Fund

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No. 229, known as the Agricultural Facilities Development Fund, which shall be transferred to and administered by the Integral Agricultural Development Fund (FIDA, Spanish acronym). The latter is a public corporation, a subsidiary of the Land Authority, and shall be the entity within the Department of Agriculture responsible for said Fund. This fund shall be used to promote the balanced and organized development of agriculture in Puerto Rico.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO:

Section 1.- The "Special Sugar Excise Tax Account" is hereby created, which shall be deposited in Special Fund No. 229, known as Agricultural Facilities Development Fund, which shall be transferred, and administered by the Puerto Rico Integral Agricultural Development Fund (FIDA), and shall be used to promote the development of agriculture in Puerto Rico.

Section 2.- The Integral Agricultural Development Fund (FIDA), is a Public Corporation, a subsidiary of the Puerto Rico Land Authority, which shall be the agency of the Department of Agriculture responsible for the administration of said Fund, which shall be used to stimulate the development of agriculture in Puerto Rico.

Section 3.- The Executive Director of FIDA shall render quarterly reports on the use and management of the account of the Fund to the Board of Directors of FIDA, presided by the Secretary of Agriculture.

Section 4.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval, but its provisions shall apply to tax years that commenced after June 30, 2002.

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CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 165 (S.B. 1122) of the $2^{ ext {nd }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:

AN ACT to create the "Special Sugar Excise Tax Account," which shall be deposited in Special Fund No. 229, known as the Agricultural Facilities Development Fund, which shall be transferred to and administered by the Integral Agricultural Development Fund (FIDA, Spanish initials), which shall be used to bolster agriculture in Puerto Rico, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $15^{ ext {th }}$ of December of 2004.

Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director