In an effort to alleviate Puerto Rico’s current economic woes, the U.S. territory passed legislation on Thursday that would increase their sales tax from 7 percent to 11.5 percent.

The bill, which would also create a new 4 percent tax on professional services, just barely passed by, receiving only the minimum number of votes required by Puerto Rico's House of Representatives, according to the Associated Press.

Puerto Rico has been struggling with how it will deal with its debt. Two weeks ago, the House rejected creating a 14 percent value-added tax that Gov. Alejandro Padilla described as essential to building up the economy.

If the Senate approves yesterday's bill, the sales tax increase would start as soon as July 1, and the 4 percent tax would take effect on Oct. 1.

Economist Gustavo Velez told the AP that the proposed tax increases, which could generate $1.2 billion in revenue, would help boost the government's liquidity. But conceding this, Velez does not believe that the tax increases will in the long term solve Puerto Rico's economic problems.

As quoted in the AP, Velez said: "We're just buying time," adding that: "We have to take advantage of the next year and a half to create a non-political group to pursue a fiscal reform, a tax reform, a government reform and a plan to reactive the economy."

Whatever happens in the coming year and a half, time is running out for economic progress to be made. As reported by Bloomberg, Victor Suarez, Garcia Padilla’s chief of staff, has stated that officials are projecting a $130 million shortfall in the current fiscal year which will end on June 30.

In another Bloomberg piece, Rafael Bernabe, who earned a degree in history from Princeton and a master’s degree as well as doctorate in sociology from Binghamton University, says: “The basic, fundamental problem of the Puerto Rican economy is that you have an economy that generates a significant amount of wealth, but most of it is taken out of the island.”