Nayib Bukele returned to the Legislative Assembly the reform to the law of Free Zones that granted tax benefits for an additional period of 10 years to companies in the country to increase their investment in 100% with respect to the initially made.
On August 29, 2019, the Assembly informed that the Legislative Plenum endorsed the reform to the Law of Industrial and Commercial Free Zones, establishing that the users of these zones would have a term of 10 additional years (before there were five) to continue enjoying total exemption from taxes, which would be applicable once the period established for the regular enjoyment of this benefit expired.
A bill was presented to create fiscal and economic incentives for companies and individuals using electric vehicles.
The bill "Ley de Transporte Electrico", presented by the organization Mover El Salvador to the Legislative Assembly, seeks that each new electric vehicle or new hybrid electric vehicle be the object of benefits.
In El Salvador, it is proposed that the law discussed in the Assembly, considers the reduction of minimum requirements for investments made in special economic zones, to compensate for the disadvantages of lack of productive activity in the area.
In July 2018, the Executive Branch presented to the Legislative Assembly the draft Law on Special Economic Zones (LZEE), which is being analyzed by the Economy Commission.
Ventus S.A. de C.V., which will invest in the construction of the first wind farm in El Salvador, will enjoy tax exemptions in its investment plans and operation for 20 years.
The Guatemalan and Honduran capital company, Ventus, will invest $73 million over 10 years in the construction of a wind farm with a capacity of 54 MW, and the tax benefits that will be granted result from the signing of a Legal Stability contract for Investments.
A proposal has been made to create a special economic zone in 26 municipalities in the southeast of the country, which would provide tax incentives for activities related to clean energy and the prospecting of natural gas and oil.
The Executive presented to the Legislative Assembly a preliminary draft of the Law on the Special Economic Zone of the Southeast Region of El Salvador, which has the objective of developing 26 municipalities of Usulután, San Miguel and La Unión.
From 2014 to 2015 the size of central governments remained constant at an average 18.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).
From the introduction of the report: "Macrofiscal Profiles: 6th Edition" by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (Icefi):
2015 proved to be a period of low tax advance for the Central American region. On average, the size of central governments remained constant compared to 2014, at 18.5% of gross domestic product (GDP). However, not all nations maintained this trend in the same way. While the governments of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador, some of the largest fiscally in the region, continued to increase their participation in the economy, reporting increases of 1.5, 0.7 and 0.7% of GDP, respectively, the Government of Guatemala - one of the smallest in the world became even smaller, being reduced by 1.2% of GDP. For its part, the Government of Honduras reported a small decrease of 0.2% of GDP, fully converged with its policy of fiscal austerity, while that of Panama had a transient contraction of 1.4%, reflecting a reorganization established by the new administration and that, according to the plans for 2016, will be reversed in full.
The problem with income tax exemptions is that they favor high-return projects that would probably have been made anyway.
From an IDB document entitled "The effectiveness of tax incentives: The case of export processing zones in Costa Rica, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic".
Introduction and Summary
Policies encouraging investment make use of a variety of instruments.