Subscribe via E-Mail

Get all of our news delivered fresh to your inbox every morning! Just tell us your name and where to send it using the form below.

PS – We hate spam too. We don’t sell or share our list with anyone, and we never send commercial email.




luxe
Friday, January 29th, 2016  |  USD: Buy 531.29 / Sell 543.92
20 years

New taxes proposed to cut Chinchilla administration’s fiscal deficit

Email this page

Hacienda Costa Rica

October 18th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) New taxes are part of a set of proposals to cut the fiscal deficit of the Chinchilla administration, according to the paper “On the Road to Fiscal Consolidation: Agenda for a National Dialogue,” presented by Finance Minister Edgar Ayales yesterday afternoon.

 

Ayales said the document would serve as the basis to discuss and agree on a solution to Costa Rica’s fiscal problem.

 

Ayales said the document represents an “inventory of options” including increasing government revenue through taxes and spending cuts.

 

The “inventory” includes new taxes on private healthcare and private education, a new Value Added Tax (VAT), changes in tax burdens on free trade zones, and more.

 

The Ministry of Finance (Hacienda) plans to hold five roundtables to address five core areas: fiscal governance; strengthening tax and customs enforcement; talks on the level and quality of public spending; borrowing and investment; and fiscal and environmental sustainability.

 

Ayales said the proposals could translate into legislative bills as soon as February.

 

costa rica news

ATTENTION: If you are seeing this message,


Advertisement


Get our news delivered fresh to your inbox every morning.

Click here to subscribe to our email list. We hate spam too and never send commercial email.

Like us on Facebook and receive our news in your timeline

  • roberto

    What the heck is Ayales smoking? ” proposals could translate into legislative bills as soon as February.” What planet is he living on? February means a new president and new legislatures. Nothing will get done, except the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

  • john anthony

    That’s what we do in Canada. Get in debt and raise taxes, and get more in debt and raise taxes, then add a VAT tax, get more in debt and again raise taxes. Get a haircut, pay for the cut and then the added tax.

    • mhogan

      Excuse me, but I think Canada has been LOWERING some taxes (like Corporate Tax Rate-lowered to 15% compared to C.R. 30%; 5% GST max. to C.R. 13% and some Provinces have eliminated their Sales Tax entirely); Federal Personal Income Tax 15%-29% vs C.R. 25%). A Sales Tax (or a consumption tax) is the ONLY fair tax I see because it is UNIVERSAL–the more you have and spend, the more you pay. HOWEVER, and this is a BIG however, do you realize that Costa Rica’s Sales Tax (I.V.) is not universal. The pobrecitos who consume “less” pay NO sales tax, not 13%, not a colon –for certain–on electricity, on their food items (a.k.a.basic basket). I suspect their water bill, telephone bill, and probably others are either exempt for them or waived. So how is C.R.’s sales tax fair (because it isn’t UNIVERSAL–another one of many taking from some and giving it to others). This, as so many of what C.R. institutes as a “fair” tax is actually BUT ANOTHER Robin Hood tax. Those here who invest in a business, who buy foods they prefer, who use a little more than the tax-free limit of electricity (and others), who buy a home and pay property taxes, pay road taxes for the use of the road on those unrestricted days but pay for 7 days a week. I could go on and on but C.R. is NOT FAIR. Who says all those “pobrecitos” are not engaging in illicit acts to get under the table money or underdeclaring just as so many of the C.R. elite professionals. Costa Rica is VERY tax expensive for what the ones who actually pay the tax get back in return for their taxes. And now they want to tax “private education” and “private healthcare”. They should be kissing the ground of those who pay “private” because it diminishes the burden on the voting masses and pobrecitos who excessively use the CAJA and pump out babies eligible for free education. Like that’s gonna happen here???

      • Lav

        Lowering corporate taxes is a slap in the face to the tax payers.

        FYI Canadians if your current government has his way, all you expats will no longer be eligible to be non-residents for income tax purposes… aka… You’ll be paying taxes while living and working abroad.

        • mhogan

          Remember when the US$ to CAN$ exchange rate was … like 70¢ whereas now it is close to 97¢. Is Canada’s $ growing in value because of a climate which encourages business vs the U.S. economy where the Corp. tax rate is rising. Lav, It isn’t so much that you’re ignorant of the fact that businesses drive the economy and provide jobs which allow the taxpayer the money to pay his taxes, it’s just that so much of what you know about economics just isn’t so. And I don’t think I’ll hold my breath for Canada to change its policy of taxing only residents. From where do you base your information. Forget answering that; I think it’s more of the same hyperbole.

          • Lav

            Actually, I am a chartered accountant.

            Basing Canadian currency on the value of the USD is not a good practise. As the CAD has not been performing well against other currencies.

            I can continue on about your other remarks about the economy, but as you put it… My ignorance is shining through.

          • mhogan

            The rule is: if you want more of something, you reward it; if you want less, you penalize it. More business=more employment; less business=less money in people’s pockets (less what the government itself extracts; a lesson CR seems to ignore) Contrary to Progressive Liberal ideology, money is not generated by the Government (except through their printing presses aka quantitive easing and that, is what drives the dollar down). So, it is a puzzle how a so-called “chartered accountant” can say “lowering Corporate Taxes is a slap in the face of the taxpayer” when it really is the Government’s Q.E. policies (devaluing the currency) and taxation that hurts the taxpayers. Man o’ man, if I could just have kept all the money I paid in taxes over the years; but then we’re in an age where working is passé; it’s easier to freeload. Next thing you’ll try to proclaim is the infamous “war on poverty” has actually worked in the U.S. of A. despite all the money thrown into the program.

          • Lav

            More business does not equal more employment. That has been proven time and time again. Cutting taxes to corporations has not contributed any growth to the Canadian economy. In fact, it’s brought in expansion policies (TFWP for example) which has taken away from Canadians.

            Money generation to pay for public services is funded through tax dollars. Increasing a corporations tax contributions, whose posting profits in the billions, will generate more income than increasing the tax contributions of the people who are making under 100k. How many families are barely managing now, and you think increasing their tax burden while decreasing the taxes of corporations is great for the economy? There will be less business if the consumers have less money to spend.

            I haven’t tried to proclaim anything. I simply disagreed with you. Wait until you see the new requirements on your T1135s (If you are Canadian), and you can insert your foot in your mouth. It’s only a matter of time before Canadians are paying taxes on all income, whether you are a resident or not.

            But thank you for trying to “slam my profession”… people are going to disagree, but can we do it with a little class and maturity?

          • Ken Morris

            Go for it, girl, but maybe you should choose a more worthy interlocutor next time. Mhogan has the poor pumping out babies, plus calls them freeloaders, and says that the progressive liberal ideology holds that the government generates money. It also doesn’t seem to dawn on him that a sales tax is regressive. You don’t need to waste your time arguing with a mean-spirited ideologue who learned economics from the graffiti on the bathroom walls.

          • Karen M. Mata

            I hope you’re out of the Canadian banking system, honey, because Cypress style bail in has been signed into law there.

            Your dollar is strong because of your natural resource based economy. Kind of like the Arab world once sitting on a quarter of the world oil reserves. Nothing to really take credit for aside from the luck of the draw.

Popular Content