Changes To Liquor Licenses Will Mean More Revenue For Municipalities
Liquor licenes, especially those that permit the sale of foreign liquor, have been a controversy over the years since they are issue to a person (physical or corporate) and not attached to a bar location, though restricted to an area.

Liquor licenses are separated into two: for liquor produced nationally (called nacional), like the "Guaro" and liquor imported for the sale in Costa Rica (called extranjera).

Those in possession of a liquor license have been able to charge up to thousands of dollars per month to bars and restaurants who forced to "rent" a license. The business of renting liquor license is estimated at us$7 million dollars per year.

And most of that does not go to Municipal or government coffers. For example, the Cerveceria Costa Rica is owner of 146 licenses, which it rents out to local bars and restaurants. Cerverceria Costa Rica is also the only brewer and distributor of beer in Costa Rica, which for appearances, offers discounts and competitive advertising between it's different brands of beer: Imperial, Rock Ice, Pilsen and several brands it produces under license, like Heineken.

Liquor licenses are in short supply as new ones are rarily issued, depending on the number of people in the district associated with the license and those who are in possession sometimes extort owners of bars and restaurant with demands of excessive fees that have no relation to sale of liquor.

However, this practice may soon come to an end.

A Legislative Commission has been studying a proposed law that would "radically" modify the issuance and ownership of liquor licenses.

The proposal is to issue licenses to an establishment that complies with all municipal regulations and not tied to the number of people that live in the district. The law would, of course, increase the revenue to the municipalities.

For example, in San José the last liquor license issued was in 1987 and it went for 60.000 colones (us$121 today, less than half of that in 1987). That same liquor license can now generate up to us$5.000 per month for the owner and pennies, 600 colones per year, for the municipality. And since it is issued to the owner and not tied to a physical location, the owner can at will - save for any contractual obligation - rent it to the highest bidder.

Of course there are those who are objecting to the practice. The major reason being put forth is that the change would increase the number of licenses and would in turn see more bars, more consumption of liquor and more people becoming addicted to the spirits.

Municipalities like San José and Escazú are two that will benefit greatly by the change, however, municipalities like Belén, don't really care much for the change as the municipality has no interest in the issuance of more licenses and the revenue associated with.