If legislator Oscar Lopéz has his way we can see the price of beer increase by ¢5 colones a bottle (or can), but for a good cause.
Lopéz, current legislator and legislator-elect for the 2014-2018 legislative term and head of the Partido Accesibilidad Sin Exclusión (PASE), said Friday he proposes to introduce a ¢5 tax on all beer sold in the country. The tax is to be allocated to the coffers of the non-contributory pension scheme of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), with the objective to increase the number of people benefiting from the state health system.
Lopéz explained that some 130.000 seniors living in poverty will directly benefit from the tax
The initivative, which according to Lopéz is being well received by fellow legislators, will will at the top of the list for Lopéz who, on May 1, will continue into his second term as legislator.
Another initiative Lopéz plans to introduce in the coming term is a reform to the Ley del Inquilinato (Tenancy Act) which currently allows an automatic annual rent increase of 15% on rentspaid in Colones. (Increases in rents paid in dollars is only by agreement).
The legislator says he wants to see the rent increase tied to inflation and not be an arbitrary increase.
On the PASE legislative agenda for the next four years are also a law to promote employment with people with disabilities and a cap on credit card interest rates.
I don’t know that I agree with the tax, but the proposal to index (maximum) rent increases to inflation makes much more than unilateral discretion by the landlord to increase rent by 15% per year. Of course, the problem with automatic increases in response to inflation also drive inflation.
I would think that if the government of CR is interested in health, they should pay their CAJA bill. For those who don’t know, the government has not paid the CAJA for their employees for years.