QCOSTARICA – The President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, has welcomed a number of tax reforms proposed by the Costa Rican Government and urged the legislature to approve them without delay.
“The time of discussion is over, the time has ran out for looking for alternatives, the time has come for solutions to the fiscal deficit, ” said Moreno.
“The issue here is the future of Costa Rica, and the fiscal problem compounded year after year,” added the IDB president.
The Government earlier this week presented to the Legislative Assembly the tax reform bill designed to boost revenues. See our report: A Casado Without Meat Or Egg For Many If Tax Plan Is Approved
The bill contains a proposal to replace the 13%general sales tax on goods with a value-added tax (VAT) with an initial rate of 14%, increasing to 15% in the second year on all goods and services. It also contains an increase in individual income tax rates on a sliding scale.
Following a meeting between Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís on Tuesday, Moreno said that the proposed package of reforms is “solid.” He said that the reforms are needed “urgently” and that the time for discussing them has passed.
President Solís also said recently that Costa Rica is in urgent need of fiscal reforms. He said that the country’s deficit will grow to 6.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year if appropriate action is not taken.
The deficit was 5.4 percent of GDP in 2014.
