The decision by the judges of the Full Court not to adjust the salaries of the Poder Judicial – the Judiciary – to the new regulations of that established incentives and annuities in the Ley de Fortalecimiento de las Finanzas Públicas (Ley 9635) – the tax reform – prompted the Ministerio de Hacienda (Treasury) to cut ¢2.543 billion colones from their budget.
The amount is the savings to the Central Government if the court applied the measures in the tax reform, money destined for anti-corruption programs.
The Court’s decision means that, unlike the 127,000 Central Government workers, who have already made the conversion of ‘pluses’ from percentage to nominal amounts to avoid the exponential growth in spending, the current 14,000 workers of the Judiciary will maintain their bonuses bases on a percentage of their growing salaries.
The Ministra de Hacienda (Finance Minister), Rocio Aguilar, said she understands the explanation of the Judiciary, but the budgetary limitations of the Government require that all meet the requirement of the tax reform law.
The minister was clear that the budget cut will apply until the Judiciary complies with the tax reform law.
“We do not see the will to contribute to the adjustment (bonuses) that we have vehemently urged you to cut for the good of this country. With pleasure, if necessary, by motion, the Executive Branch undertakes to reintegrate resources to the Judiciary as soon as they comply with the Law,” said Minister Aguilar.
