Comments on: VAT would mean higher electric, water, and rent bills for many in Costa Rica

By: Yeims

Yeims — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 21:03:00 +0000

These proposals from the government wanting to gouge even more money from us just makes me sick. The government doesn’t do one damned thing for the people except maybe throw a token out every now and then. They sure do love to make up all kinds of half-cooked rules and laws we’re supposed to follow, though.

By: prdatki

prdatki — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 15:18:00 +0000

You are so right, many people ask the same questions, There should be massive cuts in pay and benefits for the Govt. and the Public sector.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:08:00 +0000

Ken are do you want to pay more TAXES?

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:07:00 +0000

Ken

Costa Rican are getting screwed over left and right and yes they pay high rent compared to anywhere.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:02:00 +0000

Why does the Costa Rican goverment never do cuts to anything? Why do salaries of public sector always go up when private sector salaries stay they same in Costa Rica? Why do elected officials get great pensions for only serving 4 years in office? Why do Landlords in Costa Rica want there rent in dollars and not Colons? Why should anybody pay more Taxes to corupt lazy goverment in Costa Rica? Why do Costa Rican goverment do nothing to fix road ever? Why do ICE and AYA pay there workers 4 times more than private sector workers? Where does all the TAX money go in Costa Rica? Why does it take 2 years to get into the Caja for an Operation? Why do big US companies that work in Tax free zones never pay TAXES to the goverment of Costa Rica? Where does all the Taxes i pay to keep my car on the road go? How come Gas prices are always high in Costa Rica compared to every other country in the world?
Why does UCR always get more money for free education?

I ask these question to show people that Costa Rica and the goverment have screwed over everyone for ever do not invest in Costa Rica its a real mess as for VAT welcome to more TAXES and more lazy goverment that steal from private sector that can´t feed there families.

By: prdatki

prdatki — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 23:55:00 +0000

The first thing that should be done is execute 10% of Congress, the top 10% of Public sector, take their money and put it in to road repair, Three month later, audit them again if massive cuts in Govt. spending have not occurred, do it again. Very soon Govt spending and Taxes will drop 50%, I call it cost cutting!It will also reduce traffic problems.

By: Ken Morris

Ken Morris — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 22:19:00 +0000

Yeah, I was also thinking that it might be a reporting/records thing.

By: Ken Morris

Ken Morris — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 22:18:00 +0000

I dunno. The best explanation I can think of is that some very high percentage of low- and middle-income Ticos live in houses owned outright by the family and thus aren’t even tenants for statistical purposes. However, while I know this happens, I doubt it is this common. The dual-income Tico-yuppie families aren’t that plentiful, and most of those buy houses fairly soon.

My neighborhood is middle to upper-middle class, and while it’s possible to rent an occasional house for $764 a month or more, there are hundreds of rentals in the $400 – $600 range. In more typical working class neighborhoods, rents are lower.

Also, the rent figure presented should be more consistent with the water and electric rate figures.

It really looks like a math error in the Hacienda. Maybe some overpaid public servant there confused mean rents with median rents. Nine tenants paying $300 and one paying $3000 can make the average rent look like $570.

By: Timothy Williams

Timothy Williams — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 22:04:00 +0000

Add this, also: I don’t know this (it wasn’t stated) but it is possible that Hacienda is only taking into account registered (on the tax payroll) landlords who actually report their income from rentals. I doubt those (“landlords”) who are renting 100,000 per month tenement housing in certain areas, be it a slum in Pavas or a shack in San Carlos, are registered on the tax rolls.

By: Timothy Williams

Timothy Williams — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 21:55:00 +0000

This stuck out to me while writing this article, believe me, but that is the figure provided by Hacienda (Finance Ministry). Then I continued to think about it, and with the average middle-income wage earner with 2 to 4 years of post-secondary education now making no less than $1,000 per month on average, and dual-income households becoming the norm here as they are in the US, plus the exorbitant rents charged here for a place large enough to raise a family, It started to reason that the number might be closer (though not completely) accurate. Keep in mind that most ticos who can’t afford rent or a mortgage (and many of those who even can) stay at home with their parents into their 30′s or until they are married with kids. So the more I think about it the more plausible that figure becomes. Point well-taken though, and we’ll try to look into some other figures (INEC, perhaps) for a follow-up.