PMA SECTION 936 STUDY ON DRUG COMPANY INVESTMENTS IN PUERTO RICO

PMA SECTION 936 STUDY ON DRUG COMPANY INVESTMENTS IN PUERTO RICO is expected to be completed this fall. "The association is seeking to maintain up-to-date statistics about the effects of the tax code incentive at a time when legislation for a Puerto Rican referendum is being considered by Congress," the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association said in a Jan. 10 release. Senate bill S 712 provides a referendum in 1991 in which citizens of Puerto Rico could vote for statehood, independence, or to retain commonwealth status. The bill would disallow Section 936 credits in the event Puerto Rico votes for statehood ("The Pink Sheet" Dec. 4, T&G-7). PMA has hired Price Waterhouse and the Hudson Institute to conduct the study. Price Waterhouse will examine the economic impact of Section 936, and the Hudson Institute will assess national security implications of the provision. The analysis of the economic impact of Section 936 will be carried out by Price Waterhouse's National congressional Tax Services unit, which is headed by Bernard Shapiro, former chief of staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, PMA said. Others involved in the study are: Mark McConaghy, also a former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation; Larry Dildinne, previously deputy director of domestic taxation, Office of Tax Analysis, Treasury Department; Peter Merrill, former chief economist, Joint Committee on Taxation; and Gary Warner, an economist. Hudson Institute's assessment will be handled under the direction of William Schneider, a senior fellow at the think tank and chair of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament.