The authorities of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) expressed their concern about the tax reform. The educational center assured that the last substitute text of the bill to strengthen public finances directly harms the students of public universities.
According to the institution, the current proposal for tax reform does not exempt public higher education from the payment of value added tax, as it does with private education.
This implies that if the reform is approved, the student body will have to pay a 13% tax on the cost of tuition, which means around ¢ 400 million, which within the context of collection that the government expects, represents little income, but that is a massive amount for low-income students,”
said the institution through a press release.
Henning Jensen, president of the UCR, describes the possible non-exoneration as a blow to the student population and an attempt to weaken Costa Rican public higher education.
The center of higher education also added that purchases for goods and services made by state universities must also pay 13% of the tax , which would imply an additional outlay of more than ¢ 8,500 million.
Another aspect of the tax reform project that worries public higher education institutions is the fact that article 11 of this draft exempts private education, lowering the payment of the tax to 2%.