Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly approved in first debate a bill that seeks to tax the sale of all – imported or locally produced – cement.
The bill seeks to eliminate a distortion in the market.
The initiative establishes that the tax will be on cement in bags or in bulk whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product at the national level, reported the Legislative Assembly.
From the Legislative Assembly’s statement on February 17th, 2020: In the case of national production, the manufacturer of such product shall be liable to this tax; in the case of imports, the natural or legal person who introduces the product or in whose name it is imported shall be liable to this tax.
The tax on cement produced in national territory or imported shall be five percent (5%) over the net sales price. The Value Added Tax (VAT) is excluded from the taxable base, as well as any other tax.
Read full statement (in Spanish).
The bill requires second and final reading in the legislature and the president’s signature before becoming law.
