Despite a severe economic crisis, Costa Rican authorities have approved the imposition of a 1% VAT on several foodstuffs in the basic food basket, and 4% on certain tourist activities and construction services.
Before the emergence of the pandemic, the Costa Rican economy was already in a difficult state, and the impact of the covid-19 outbreak ended up hitting it in the worst way, which is evident in the performance of productive activity.
If the Treasury's proposal succeeds, interest on bank deposits would incur 8% to 15%, while for revenues generated by mutual funds, the tax would rise from 5% to 15%.
This unification is due to the fact that currently there are different taxes for similar types of income, therefore the tax is not neutral, according to the CEO of Taxation. In the case of surplus cooperatives and solidarity associations, the project proposes "... Keeping the current tax of 5% for amounts of income less than minimum wage exempt from tax. "
Requests have been made for the clarification of which telecommunications services are to be taxed with VAT, since it is unclear whether it is information services or telecommunications which would be taxed.
Currently telecommunications services are charged sales tax, even though the Costa Rican government aims to close the digital divide. With this new reform proposal, a Value Added Tax (VAT) of 15%, "would be incurred ... It would be the first time that telecommunications services are integrated into a tax
The Attorney General's Office is recommending to the Constitutional Court that it reject the appeal which seeks to outlaw the power of the taxation department to proactively collect tax debts.
The appeal to the Constitutional Court by a group of taxpayers is still under consideration by the judges and although there is still no resolution to this effect, the Attorney General of the Republic "... supported the power of the Treasury to collect advanced payments of taxpayers tax debts. "
Tax revenues in relation to GDP increased in the Central American countries with the exceptions of Guatemala, where it fell, and Costa Rica, where it did not change.
A report entitled "Tax Statistics" prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), analyzes the behavior of tax collection in Latin America.
In 2010, when looking at total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, Costa Rica has the highest ratio in Central America, and ranked fourth in Latin America, behind only Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
The study on Tax Statistics in Latin America, by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), notes that while the ratio of tax revenue to GDP has been growing in Latin American countries, the average of the so called "tax pressure" is still below the average for countries who are members of the OECD.
Citizens generally ask for and even demand massive social spending without much thought about its implications, says Ocliver A. Rojas Gómez in his blog on the Fuerza Verde web site.
The market can't carry out all economic functions, he says, and so some of the responsibility has to be lodged with the State as a provider of social services.
español
2090