Minister of Finance Rocío Aguilar expressed her optimism because on Tuesday night the Special Commission of the Fiscal Plan managed to bring back the taxes that had been exonerated two weeks ago by the legislators, particularly with the basic basket. This would assure the treasury about 33 billion colones, half of what it initially intended.
Aguilar explained that, although the government’s goal of taxing that basket with a 2% tax was not achieved, the legislators understood the political responsibility and the importance of those taxes.
According to Aguilar, the work by Yorleny León and Silvia Hernández from the National Liberation Party (PLN) was outstanding.
The minister had warned legislators about draining the substitute text of the bill to strengthen public finances with approval of motions for exonerations, since, initially, they sought to collect 1.9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a figure that translates into almost $ 600 billion, but with what the congressmen had decided, that percentage fell to 1.12%.
According to Gustavo Viales, a liberationist legislator, this agreement with the government was made possible thanks to a compensation mechanism, which consists in the fact that during the first year that tribute will not be charged, for the second year after the entry into force of the law what is collected will go to the non-contributory pension scheme of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) to start with the attention of 10 thousand applications.
The legislators agreed on 1% through the motion number 799 presented by Pedro Muñoz, from the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), that also imposes that same percentage for the productive chain.
The Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) will be responsible for explaining what will be part of the basic basket.