CUD insists on eliminating the inventory tax and moving the permit reform

On July 28, 2026, NotiCel reports that the president of the United Retailers Center, Ramón Barquín III, summoned the government to transform the permit system and eliminate the inventory tax, to free the sector from what he called bureaucratic and tax obstacles. Neither of the two matters has prospered this four-year term to the point of becoming law. The permit reform, according to the note, would be addressed in the next session with a substitute bill; the elimination of the inventory tax has not been put into a new bill.

CUD has spent more than a year in forums and technical proposals. Sustaining the inventory tax, he warns before the Legislative Assembly, threatens supply security: the system penalizes storing essential merchandise and leaves Puerto Rico vulnerable to atmospheric emergencies or distribution crises. Ramón Barquín III speaks of a lack of political will and of a permit scaffolding that operates as a hidden tax because of the time and money entrepreneurs lose. No more patches or study commissions: total immediate eradication. He will not allow, he says, the competitiveness of SMEs to be sacrificed to balance municipal budgets. He asks for a unified digital model, predictable and free of bureaucracy.

NotiCel does not publish a tax rate or a municipal inventory collection. The summons stands. The outlet's headline speaks of an inventory credit; the body speaks of an inventory tax. What each layer says is copied. This magazine does not reconcile credit and tax.

This note is not mixed with S.B. 679 on federal vouchers of July 22 nor with DDEC's $5,000 for water-affected SMEs that NotiCel will cover on the 29th. Permits, housing, and commercial drought are three fronts. Jenniffer González Colón does not answer here.

Ramón Barquín III speaks as guild president. The reader who wants that summons has the NotiCel URL at the foot. This is not original reporting.

Source: NotiCel. https://noticel.com/ultima-hora/20260728/el-cud-insiste-en-eliminar-el-credito-por-inventario-e-impulsar-la-reforma-de-permisos/