Walmart, the retail behemoth headquartered in Northwest Arkansas, has 25 units in Puerto Rico, including both Sam’s Club and discount stores. Add the Walmart-owned Amigos Supermarkets and the total comes to 56. According to CPI, this is more Walmart stores per square mile than in any of the states. However, there is one Walmart store for every 128,132 people. This is a high number of people per store compared with the states.
As of this writing, the company employs 13,807 local workers at an average salary of $15.72. They are the largest private employer on the the Island. Walmart Puerto Rico works with 597 local suppliers to the tune of $1.8 billion, supporting 40,629 jobs in the suppliers’ companies. The company is not currently supplying the number of local service vendors they work with, but past data shows that the number is likely to be larger than that of local suppliers.
While Walmart doesn’t share sales figures for the territory, past internal data shows that Walmart held more than 13% total market share on the Island, with income increasing significantly every year. This, along with the workers they employ, is Puerto Rico’s contribution to Walmart’s economic power.
The retailer pays $154.4 million in corporate taxes to the territory government, and collects and remits $370.5 million in sales tax annually. They also donate $72 million dollars and 3.6 million pounds of food per year. This, along with the jobs they support, is Walmart’s contribution to Puerto Rico’s economic power.
There is overlap between the two contributions. And not all observers would agree that the relationship between Walmart and Puerto Rico is completely beneficial to either side. But it is clear that this one stateside company exemplifies Puerto Rico’s economic connection with the United States: the territory’s economy is more strongly intertwined and integrated with the nation’s economy than any territory’s in the past ever was.
The Walmart tax
In 2016, Puerto Rico’s government passed a law requiring all retailers bringing in more than $2.75 billion per year to pay an extra sales tax. There was only one retailer in that category: Walmart. The Walmart Tax, as it came to be known, was struck down. Walmart doesn’t share numbers showing its revenue in the territory, but if Walmart’s revenue increases in Puerto Rico were about average, its current annual revenue in Puerto Rico should be in the neighborhood of $4.25 billion.
It’s not just Walmart
It’s estimated that Puerto Rico consumers spend about $49 billion each year on goods produced and sold by companies headquartered on the mainland. While consumers on the Island also support local companies and foreign producers, this number still makes the Island a significant market for the states. Walgreens, Home Depot, CVS, and AutoZone all earn significant revenues from the territory. All provide jobs and needed goods and services to Puerto Rico, too.
Puerto Rico, home to 3.2 million U.S. citizens, is an important part of the U.S. economy. History shows that territories which become states — there have been 32 of those so far — become even more deeply integrated into the nation’ economy. Puerto Rico is already there. Based on its importance in the U.S. culture, economy, and life in general, Puerto Rico should already be a state. Let your legislators know that you expect them to support statehood for Puerto Rico.
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