Robert F. Mujica Jr. asks to halt municipal excise taxes on federal works

On June 1, 2026, San Juan Daily Star covers a letter from Robert F. Mujica Jr. to Gabriel Hernández Rodríguez, president of the Federación de Alcaldes, and to Jorge González Otero, president of the Asociación de Alcaldes. The Junta holds that some municipalities have already begun applying Law 215-2024 on construction excise taxes. Laws 141 and 215 of 2024, Robert F. Mujica Jr. says, cannot be executed until the Junta determines that they comply with PROMESA and the certified fiscal plans. He asks for confirmation by June 22 that affiliated municipalities were instructed to halt implementation. He warns that he may go to court.

The concern the outlet attributes to the Junta is twofold: Washington could see the use of recovery funds to pay municipal excise as inefficient or improper, and the levy could raise the cost of, delay, or cancel energy-reconstruction works. Different rates among municipalities, the letter adds, would distort where projects sit. Law 215 clarifies that the exemption for public agencies does not automatically extend to private contractors. Law 141 raises bid thresholds and allows skipping bidding up to one million dollars in declared emergencies.

Cate Long, an analyst at Puerto Rico Clearinghouse, denounced the same day on social media that taxing works paid with federal money clashes with federal law and urged the Junta to intervene. Frontiers of Freedom, a Washington group, sent on June 25 a request for investigation to the inspectors general of Homeland Security, HUD, and Energy over alleged charges in Humacao and Guayama; the Star clarifies that that letter does not mean the inquiry has started. Those 5 to 10 percent of cost the group cites are from that petition, not a tally by this magazine.

Gabriel Hernández Rodríguez, mayor of Camuy, holds that the levy falls on the private contractor, not the federal agency. Jorge González Otero, mayor of Jayuya, says Law 215 did not create a new tax: it clarified a 1996 power. The Junta and the mayors are not reconciled here. What remains is the June 1 letter and the June 22 deadline.

This note does not resolve whether the excise is legal. There is no judicial ruling in the Star's coverage. The reader who wants the full letter or the associations' reply has the URL. This is not original reporting.

Source: San Juan Daily Star. https://www.sanjuandailystar.com/post/analyst-denounces-municipal-taxes-on-federally-funded-projects