President Carlos Alvarado said earlier this week that lifting bank secrecy should not be a concern for honest people or for any business person or investor, nor should it be an excuse to defend “things that affect the country.”
“The lifting of bank secrecy does not affect any farmer, does not affect any housewife, does not affect any student, any formal business person in lawful activities and generating employment.
“It does not affect any investment because foreign investment coming here is from countries that do not have banking secrecy, so it is not true that it affects the attraction of legitimate investment, I do not see where the concern is,” he questioned.
His words stem from the ongoing discussions by the legislative committee on tax matters and the words of the Minister of Finance, Rodrigo Chaves, who told legislators that the bill proposed is in inline with the government’s objective, in the first instance, to combat tax evasion.
“If there are countries to which we aspire to be that they do not have it, why does Costa Rica play with different rules if it is a matter of transparency? If it does not affect the farmer, the housewife or the honest entrepreneur and does not affect the investment, what is the problem? ”, said Alvarado in response to those sectors that have spoken out against lifting banking privacy.
