The Government is debating whether to charge an additional tax of 1% on the price of fuel when the international price falls below $50 per barrel.
Under the law passed in 2009, if the price of a barrel of oil is less than $50 an additional 1% tax on the price of fuel will be automatically applied. Although the international price of oil is now trading at less than $50, the tax is not yet being charged.
The Executive is considering increasing taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages as an option for balancing the 2015 budget.
With the provisional suspension of the tax on telephone lines the Guatemalan government is left with a deficit $237 million, approximately, which is why it is looking at bridging the gap using new taxes on liquor and cigarettes, as the main alternative.
The application of tax of $0.65 per mobile phone line that had been proposed by the Executive to fund part of the 2015 budget has been temporarily suspended.
The Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the collection of the tax on telephone lines after the Chamber of Industry and the three phone companies operating in the country submitted an appeal against the tax.
With the reform to the law on Tax Concentration non-resident investors in the country will have to pay 15% instead of 10% on income earned from capital.
According to Juan Sebastian Chamorro, executive director of the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development, the new reform "... is a positive thing for the country because it will generate an increase in the collection of such taxes but is a negative blow to natural and legal non residents because the Revenue Department will no longer deduct 10% on capital transfers, but rather 15 %. "
The Foundation for Development in Guatemala argues that there is a lack of technical justifications for new taxes and lack of transparency in approving the 2015 budget.
From a statement issued by the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA):
In response to approval of a new tax of $0.65 per telephone line, operating companies have returned 6 million lines to the Telecommunications Superintendency.
Representatives from Claro, Tigo and Telefónica each returned 2 million inactive numbers with the aim of adjusting their internal policies to adapt to the new tax which will come into effect next year. The chief of the Tax Collection Authority, Omar Franco, assured Elperiodico.com.gt that "... Companies will have to make the necessary adjustments in order to estimate how much income will be as a result of the new tax. We did not know that this tax would end up being approved in the 2015 Budget. Congress considered and approved a levy based on the 23 million lines assigned, now that this figure has been reduced it will have to be re-estimated. "
The mining union is opposed to the increase from 1% to 10% for precious metals and the elimination of voluntary royalties to municipalities contemplated in the 2015 budget.
Besides the new tax on the distribution of bags of cement and telephony, increased royalties for the exploitation of minerals and construction materials are also part of the new fiscal package which comes with the 2015 budget.
The argument is that the tax on cement will increase the cost of housing by at least 6% and the tax on phones will directly affect users of prepaid telephone lines.
From a statement issued by the Chamber of Industry of Guatemala:
In order to finance the 2015 budget, Congress has approved a tax of $0.65 for the distribution of each sack of cement weighing 42.5 kg and the same amount for each mobile or fixed telephone line.
Between the two taxes it is hoped that a total of approximately $2,607 million will be raised to finance the General Budget of the Nation in 2015.
Poultry Farmers are opposed to the municipal tax in Capira of one cent per transport of each chicken and $100 per truck distributing chicken in the province of Colon.
The new tax would affect consumers, as it would increase production costs and these would be transferred to the final product cost.
Up until December 31, 2015 a moratorium will be in effect on the payment of the 13% sales tax on recreational tourism activities in Costa Rica.
The tourism sector will accept the new tax on their terms: desiring an alternative draft law as soon as possible, which exempts legislative procedures and exonerates the charges made before the moratorium.
Exporters in Costa Rica are opposed to an option being considered by the government which would charge a minimum export tax in order to finance the cost of insurance premiums for crops.
Lack of funding for the program which aims to fund the insurance premiums of agricultural crops has forced the Costa Rican government to look at alternative sources, including an option to levy a tax on exports.
Market actors in El Salvador claim that transactions are being subjected to double retention, both by brokerage firms and the bank related to it.
Because of the speed with which the financial sector has been forced to comply with the withholding tax on financial transactions, effective from September 1st this year, the same market participants are claiming that investors are suffering because they are being billed the tax twice on each transaction.
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