The Board: repealing the crudita would open a $1,675 million hole

On August 14, 2026, Caribbean Business carries the Fiscal Oversight Board's reply to the idea of repealing the so-called crudita. The letter is dated August 13. Robert F. Mujica Jr. tells Thomas Rivera Schatz he does not see a revenue-neutral repeal: if that levy comes off, the hole has to be named, not disguised with an adjective.

The figures the outlet publishes, attributed to that letter, are these and not others. Annual loss is placed between $328 million and $345 million in fiscal years 2027 through 2031. The total adds to $1.675 billion. The breakdown the Board cites is $628 million from Ley 1-2015, $679 million from Ley 31-2013, and $368 million from the base tax. The headline speaks of $1,675 million; the body of the note uses $1.675 billion. Both spellings are copied as they came out and are not rounded into one.

The same letter cites the one-time relief in Joint Resolution 6-2026, of $554 million. That line is not an annual flow: it is a one-time hit. On July 14, 2026, the same Caribbean Business had published that the Board rejected stretching the school IVU holiday and that, in that other July 13 letter, it also invoked JR 6-2026: $554 million and about a million households. Two dates, two letters, the same relief figure cited by the same body. It is not mixed with the crudita hole.

The cash frame into which that loss would fall was already signed. On July 6, 2026, El Nuevo Día reported that the General Fund for fiscal year 2026-27 stood at $13,174 million, below the original $13,180 million, in force on July 1. On June 29, the Board itself certified a $33.6 billion consolidated total for FY2027, with $13.2 billion from the General Fund. This magazine does not average 13,174 with 13.2: it names who published each layer and on which day.

Thomas Rivera Schatz asked. Robert F. Mujica Jr. answered. Caribbean Business dated the note. There is no revenue run of this magazine's own here, and no verdict on whether the crudita should live or die. The figures are those the source published. If another government table later offers a substitute revenue, that will be another note, with another date and another outlet.

Source: Caribbean Business. https://caribbean.business/crudita-repeal-could-cost-puerto-rico-billions/