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.
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.
Because fertilizers became more expensive due to the tax reform implemented last year, for the 2019-2020 agricultural cycle the volume demanded in the country fell by approximately 220,000 quintals.
Distributors in the country estimate that with the Tax Concentration Law approved at the end of February 2019, fertilizer prices increased up to 17% and agrochemicals between 20% and 30%.
With the Nicaraguan authorities confirming that they will review the Tax Agreement Law again in 2020, the business sector is calling for the correction of several measures that have decapitalized companies operating in the country.
On February 27, 2019, the reform to the Tax Harmonization Law was approved, which consisted in raising income tax from 1% to 2% for medium sized companies with higher income, and from 1% to 3% for large taxpayers.
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.
As a result of the tax reform implemented in February 2019, Nicaragua tripled the tax burden on imports of all types of beverages, and nine months later, businessmen are still waiting for the government to review the collections.
On February 27, 2019, the amendment to the Tax Concertation Law was approved, which consisted of raising from 1% to 2% the income tax for medium sized companies with higher income, and for large taxpayers from 1% to 3%, the livestock sector has reported considerable increases in its production costs.
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.
The outlook for sugar producers in Nicaragua is complex, since they must face a fall in international prices, coupled with rising operating costs at the local level.
According to international reports, from January 2018 to September 2019, the average price of a quintal of sugar has remained below $14, even dropping to $10.46 in August 2018.
The Mayor's Office of Managua filed a lawsuit against Millicom, arguing that the company has a debt of almost $1 million on account of five years of arrears in the payment of the Real Estate tax.
The debt claimed by the City Hall corresponds to the alleged omission in the payment of the municipal tax corresponding to 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, a period in which the assets still belonged to Telefónica.
Although Costa Rica and Nicaragua approved fiscal reforms this year, it is predicted that the expected results in terms of tax collection will not be achieved.
The document "Centroamérica: análisis sintético, por país, del desempeño de la recaudación tributaria en 2019", prepared by the Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales (Icefi), explains that, in the case of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the expected results in terms of improved collection are still in doubt.
In Nicaragua, companies involved in the production of bread are facing several difficulties because of the increase in their operating costs, which derive from the rise in taxes and electricity tariffs.
The beginning of the year has been difficult for most of the productive sectors of the country and bakers are not exempt from this reality. On February 27, 2019, the amendment to the Tax Agreement Law was approved, which consisted of raising from 1% to 2% the income tax for medium sized companies with higher incomes. Another of the measures contemplated by the reform was to raise the income tax of large taxpayers from 1% to 3%.
In Nicaragua, there is uncertainty because the government is reviewing the tax reform without the participation of businessmen, and because adjustments to the minimum wage could be made in September.
Weeks ago, it was reported that when the government's review of the tax reform in force in the country since February is completed, businessmen consider that no tax cuts will be made, despite the fact that production costs in the country have risen considerably.
In the government's review of Nicaragua's tax reform that has been in place since February, businessmen consider that no tax cuts will be made, even though production costs in the country have risen considerably.
After the approval on February 27, 2019 of the amendment to the Tax Concertation Law, which consists of raising from 1% to 2% the income tax for medium sized companies with higher income, and for large taxpayers from 1% to 3%, the productive sector has reported increases in its production costs.
Businessmen in the industrial sector in Nicaragua say that since the tax reform was implemented in the first quarter of the year, employment has fallen between 30% and 35%.
On February 27, 2019 was approved the amendment to the Law of Tax Concertation, which consists of raising from 1% to 2% income tax for medium enterprises with higher income. Another of the measures contemplated by the reform is to raise the income tax of large taxpayers from 1% to 3%.