This Thursday morning, before meeting with legislators at the Museo de Niños (Children’s Museum), the Minister of Finance announced that the government will propose the creation of a solidarity tax on both the wages of the private and public sector employees to help finance a support plan for those who lost their jobs for the coronavirus emergency.
According to Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves, the tax would begin to be collected on monthly salaries of ¢500,000 and up with a 5% contribution and would increase the higher the salary is up to 25%, added Planning Minister Pilar Garrido.
Chaves literally said: “All of us who are blessed to have the job will contribute. That is the proposal. It won’t be for low-income people. It will start in more or less with a very small contribution for those who earn ¢500,000 (monthly) or more, 5% and, from there, it will go up as people earn more, where those who earn ¢4.3 million (monthly) or more will make a greater contribution, at least for the time that is necessary”.
The Minister of Planning, Pilar Garrido, also said of the tax: “Right now, it is being visualized from a certain amount that is around more than ¢1 million (monthly) and is differentiated, let’s say, people who earn less than that, 5%, the maximums, 25%, but everything is still under development”.
According to Chaves, the idea is to generate resources to add ¢360 billion colones, along with two other measures, to grant subsidies to people unemployed by the crisis.
The Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, made the same announcement during the mid-day covid-19 briefing, using the same figures stated earlier by the Finance Minister.
However, later, President Carlos Alvarado denied that he intended to collect a wage tax.
