Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 01, 2005
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Large Companies to
Continue Paying 30% Taxes
Yesterday morning, legislators approved an amendment to the Permanent Fiscal Reform Package that would set the tax rate at 30% for companies that earn more than ¢30 million ($62,240) annually if the tax reforms are passed, according to a statement released by the assembly.
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U.S. General Pays
Visit
to Costa Rica
U.S. General Brantz J. Craddock announced that the joint crime-fighting operations between the United States and Costa Rica will continue without change in an official visit with President Abel Pacheco and Security Minister Rogelio Ramos yesterday.
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Conjoined Twins Born
at Costa Rica Hospital
Conjoined twins attached at the chest and stomach were born Tuesday in the National Children's Hospital in San José and are currently in stable condition, according to medical sources.
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President Delivers
Harry Potter to Schools
President Abel Pacheco may be a Muggle – Scottish author J.K. Rowling's term for a person not born with magical powers – but he paid his dues to the wizarding world when he made the rounds yesterday to various public schools handing out copies of Rowling's best-selling Harry Potter books. Pacheco first gave students at schools in Hatillo 2 and Hatillo 3, south of San José, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.” He then gave students at a school in Hatillo 1 copies of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,” the first book in the acclaimed series.
September 01
Maquinaria Hip-Hop
A creation of Miguel Bolaños to be performed Sept. 1-3, at 8 p.m. and Sept. 4, at 5 p.m., at Teatro de la Danza, CENAC. Info: 255-0618.
Mime Workshop for Actors
With Fred Herrera on Sept. 1-2, at Taller Nacional de Teatro, Barrio Escalante, 200 m north, 125 m east of Santa Teresita Church. Info: 221-1273.
Last Show of “Luisa Fernanda”
Zarzuela by composer Federico Moreno Torroba tonight at 8 p.m., at the Melico Salazar Theater, Av. 2, Ca. Ctrl./2.
Edited By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Large Companies to
Continue Paying 30% Taxes
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Yesterday morning, legislators approved an amendment to the Permanent Fiscal Reform Package that would set the tax rate at 30% for companies that earn more than ¢30 million ($62,240) annually if the tax reforms are passed, according to a statement released by the assembly.
This amendment reverses plans to reduce the rate to 25% (from the current 30%) for all companies over a gradual period, as was proposed in the latest versions of the long-debated tax plan. The original version of the tax plan, dating back three years, proposed a 15% corporate tax rate.
Legislator Gerardo Villanueva said in the statement that the aim of the reduction to 25% was to continue attracting foreign investment to Costa Rica.
“We believe this reduction is no longer necessary,” Villanueva said.
The legislator said foreign investment is no longer at risk because of a motion he made, approved last week, which releases foreign companies from paying taxes on capital generated outside of Costa Rica, unless that income is repatriated here. Until last week, the tax plan proposed all companies, foreign and national, pay taxes on all income generated inside and outside of the country. Since the motion was approved, only national companies would have to pay this “global tax” if the tax plan is approved (TT, Aug. 26).
The tax plan seeks to overhaul the country's tax collection system in order to increase the country's revenue, pay down the debt and reduce the deficit. Originally proposed in 2002, it has been highly debated in and out of legislative commission. Debate has finally recently begun on the legislative floor and a vote is expected this month.
Most Costa Rican firms currently pay 30%. However, companies located in the country's free zones are exempt from corporate tax. This will change in 2009 when all manufacturing companies in Costa Rica will be required to pay a corporate income tax, under new guidelines set by the World Trade Organization.
Representatives of the foreign investment sector have long objected to a tax rate higher than 20%, saying that it will reduce the country's competitiveness in relation to its competitors, such as Ireland, which has a corporate tax rate of 12.5%.
U.S. General Pays
Visit
to Costa Rica
U.S. General Brantz J. Craddock announced that the joint crime-fighting operations between the United States and Costa Rica will continue without change in an official visit with President Abel Pacheco and Security Minister Rogelio Ramos yesterday.
“Crime, terrorism, illegal drug trafficking, poverty and political instability do not respect or recognize borders,” he said. “Southcom (the U.S. Southern Command) will continue working with Costa Rica and supporting the efforts of the Costa Rican government to find solutions to common security problems.”
Ramos added that the subjects of human and arms trafficking are “important subjects, above all because of the conflict in Colombia.”
He said he appreciates Craddock's visit, which was the general's first to Costa Rica, and mentioned that the two countries will continue to exchange information and perspectives on the fight against drug traffickers, especially.
Craddock assumed command of the U.S. Southern Command on Nov. 9, 2004. Before stopping in Costa Rica, he visited the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana, both in his jurisdiction.
Conjoined Twins Born
at Costa Rica Hospital
Conjoined twins attached at the chest and stomach were born Tuesday in the National Children's Hospital in San José and are currently in stable condition, according to medical sources.
A spokesperson for the hospital said that the children were delivered after doctors performed a Caesarean section and that medical authorities would not comment on the case for now, at the request of the mother, identified as María Arias, 41, a Nicaraguan citizen who has resided in Costa Rica for the past 13 years.
Oscar González, chief gynecologist at Hospital México, told reporters that although the babies share a liver and their hearts are very close together, they are in stable condition.
González said that the children should be subjected to a diverse number of tests to analyze the possibility of separating them, but added that the close proximity of the hearts could complicate the process.
Arías, born in Granada, Nicaragua, is the mother of nine other children and lives with her husband in extreme poverty in a marginal neighborhood of San José.
– ACAN-EFE
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