Following the entry into force of the Sign Law, agencies engaged in providing printed advertising services estimate that the cost of billboards will increase by 30% due to the new tax payments to be made to the municipalities.
According to the Assembly, the purpose of the Law is to establish the legal framework to regulate the advertising and propaganda carried out by means of signs located in the municipalities of the country, based on urban, suburban and rural planning and development, as well as technological advances.
In this scenario of economic crisis, falling tax revenues and the need to finance recovery programs, in Guatemala and Costa Rica it is already proposed to increase current taxes and create new ones.
Guatemalan authorities are already beginning to discuss the fiscal policy they will apply in 2021, when the economy will have to face the effects of the economic crisis generated by the covid-19 outbreak.
In order to access the $1.75 billion credit requested from the IMF, the Costa Rican government proposes to tax financial transactions, increase the tax on the profits of companies and individuals, and increase the tax on real estate.
On the afternoon of September 17, and in the context of a severe economic crisis that had been going on since before the beginning of the pandemic, the Alvarado administration presented the plan with which it intends to mitigate the fiscal impact of the Covid-19 crisis, a proposal to negotiate an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a credit of $1.75 billion.
In Costa Rica, the Alvarado administration would be considering the creation of a tax on each transaction that a person or company makes through a financial entity, a tax that will discourage savings and motivate people to use cash.
In order to discuss a medium and long term credit with the International Monetary Fund, the Costa Rican authorities would be planning to design and create a new tax, which consists of each person paying a tax of ¢3 for every ¢1.000 in the transactions they make through a bank, finance company, mutual fund, stock exchange or any other financial entity.
The Legislative Assembly approved in second debate a bill that aims to tax in the country the sale and self-consumption of imported or locally produced cement.
The initiative, which was approved in the first debate in the Assembly in mid-February and is still pending approval by the Executive Branch, establishes that the tax will be on imported cement produced nationally, in bags or in bulk, for sale or self-consumption, of any kind, whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product nationally.
The Assembly approved in first debate a bill that seeks to tax the sale and self-consumption of cement that is imported or locally produced.
The initiative establishes that the tax will be on cement imported and produced nationally, in bags or in bulk, for sale or self-consumption, of any kind, whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product at the national level, reported the Legislative Assembly.
As a result of the tax reform implemented in February 2019, at the beginning of 2020 the prices of beverages increased, mainly soft drinks sold in plastic containers.
In February of last year, the Ortega regime approved the reform of the Tax Agreement Law, which consisted of increasing income tax from 1% to 2% for medium sized companies with higher incomes, and from 1% to 3% for large taxpayers.
In Costa Rica, the Ministry of Finance proposes to apply VAT to services such as Netflix, Airbnb, Tinder, Skype, PlayStation Network and advertising on social networks, among others.
According to a resolution of the Ministry of Finance that should be in consultation in the coming days, credit card issuers would be required to receive the 13% tax.
The list of digital services objects of the collection of VAT amounts to 190, as some are repeated, as companies use different names at the time of billing their customers.
Panamanian industrialists consider that the approach under which the new tax of 7% on carbonated beverages and 5% on other sugary beverages was defined uses discriminatory fiscal measures.
On November 18, Law 114 was published in the Official Journal, entitled "What creates the Action Plan to Improve Health and dictates other provisions to establish the selective tax on the consumption of sugary beverages and the criteria for its use", which stipulates a 7% tax on carbonated beverages, 5% for other sugary beverages and 10% for syrups, and sugar concentrates for the production of sugary beverages.
A law was published in the Official Journal of Panama that establishes a 7% tax on carbonated beverages, 5% for other sugary beverages and 10% for syrups, syrups and concentrates for the production of sugary beverages.
On November 18, Law 114 was published in the Official Journal, entitled " What creates the Action Plan to Improve Health and dictates other provisions to establish the selective tax on the consumption of sugary beverages and the criteria for its use."
The Ortega administration rejected the request of Nicaraguan coffee growers, who requested that the tax of one dollar per quintal exported be waived for the 2020-2021 harvest.
The decision to start charging from next year was published by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific) in the October 15, 2019 edition of La Gaceta.
The funds collected from the producers will be managed by the National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Culture (Conatradec), as stipulated in the Law for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Culture, which was amended in August 2019.
In the Dominican Republic, the e-commerce union announced that it will file a legal appeal against the government's intention to apply a tax on the use of digital platforms by 2020.
The intention of the Dominican Chamber of Electronic Commerce (Cadolec), is to stop the collection of taxes to platforms such as Netflix, Spotify, Airbnb and some others, by means of an appeal for protection that they plan to present to the Superior Administrative Court.
The authorities that will assume the government in 2020 in Guatemala could evaluate options to tax temporarily some sectors, however, there would be a risk that these taxes become permanent.
Businessmen regret the fact that in Costa Rica is constant the creation of new taxes, fees and canons as an easy and quick solution to problems affecting the country, such as the bill that seeks to tax the use of plastic.
Project No. 21159 "Law to solve the contamination of plastic waste", which was presented to the National Assembly by the deputy of the ruling party Paola Vega, contemplates the collection of a tax for the importation or nationalization of plastic inputs, for selling or consuming articles of this material.
In Nicaragua, authorities reported a decision to suspend collection of the additional fee of $0.05 for each kilogram exported or imported by air.
The extra charge came into effect last April 25, but from the beginning the private sector spoke out against it, because it was argued that the tariff that the Nicaraguan government would apply, would put some local companies on the border of closure and cause a decrease of about $50 million annually.
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