One again, as the New Year gets started, Costa Rican’s will find themselves paying more to the government.
Ticos by nature are non-aggressive, but this time the government may experience what American’s have seen, “country wide protests” and what some of the Bloggers are writing about, “WTF – The don’t understand land!”
Starting today (Jan 1, 2012) Costa Rica will see ( to name the few) higher traffic Fines, increase in tolls, and new tax(es), particularly on corporations, which is caused a bit of confusion.
Traffic Fines and Vehicle Registration
Just about all traffic fines will go up on average ¢44.000 colones. And for the existing high fines that have not been paid, expect a hike of 14%. In other words, a ¢316.000 fine suddenly becomes ¢360.000.
Private cars and Motorcycles will pay on between 30% to 43% more for registration and general taxes.
Traffic fines can be paid at some banks, but then again, find a bank open on Sunday and without a mile long line, and if you can’t pay, one had better keep a sharp eye for a Tránsito official who will be looking for that missing 2012 sticker on your windshield. Read more... (615 words, 3 images, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)
President Laura Chinchilla
I don’t know if it is just me, but it seems like every time you turn around Costa Rica is having some sort of labor strike.
Last Monday, about 2000 union workers of Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) (government monopoly on power and light company) went on strike, and snarled traffic on several major streets in and around San Jose. They were protesting a bill in the Legislative Assembly to privatize the generation of electricity.
And back in July a meeting was held between the union and officials of the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS) over a strike that centered on reduction of benefits.
So … what could this be telling us?
First, let go to the political party of National Liberation Party, in which ex President Óscar Arias (May 2006-2010) and current President Laura Chinchilla are political members. The National Liberation Party supports [to a point] privatization, which has only been tolerable by unions in this small but creditable Central American country. After Arias, many were saying [because of privatization] it would put an end to National Liberation Party’s, needless to say, they were proven wrong when Chinchilla was voted in, keeping the party in power until 2014. Its evident both were voted into power to help reduce government waste and to promote economical growth. Read more... (719 words, 3 images, estimated 2:53 mins reading time)
The world’s most advance technology will have it 20th Birthday on Aug, 8th; thats when the “World Wide Web (www)” first gained a public face in 1991.
CERN, which straddles the border between France and Switzerland, publicized the new World Wide Web project, two years after, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee had begun creating HTML, HTTP and the first few Web pages at CERN.
The World Wide Web in its short span has grown into a multi-trillion dollar business – making it the fastest growing business in the history of mankind. In 1998, less than .1% of the population of Costa Rica (including the World) had no clue to what the Internet was.
With the Costa Rica’s Free Trade Agreement and ICE’s suddenly lost of its IP monopoly (caused by competition), and its recent monopoly on Apple iPhones Costa Rica is demanding technology, particularly internet service at an alarming rate.
According to a poll we have been conducting, seventy-eight percent of Costa Ricans are influence by technology. As one person commented on one of our Blog posts: Read more... (832 words, 2 images, estimated 3:20 mins reading time)
Once again the media hammered the public with the new IRS threat, that they are going after US expats that have failed to pay US income taxes!
Back in February of 2011 the IRS announced a program for U.S. taxpayers who have overseas accounts, income, or other foreign assets that have not been previously reported and/or taxed. This is called the “2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative,” or 2011 OSVDI – a voluntary disclosure of expats foreign accounts.
In other words, are they trying to get an account on those who have not claimed US income, a requirement of the IRS? And to strike fear in those US citizens who have pulled up stakes, move to Costa Rica and have started businesses and/or received some type of income to support their new-found life style?
What may have started this new threat was the 2007 Central America Free Trade Agreement, which enable any Costa Rican company (US or not) to trade with the US markets. This opened any Costa Rica business to one of the biggest markets in the world. With said, it has allowed more income from US dollars than every before and this is what may be what the IRS is going after. Read more... (542 words, 1 image, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)
Costa Rica bans Uranium Weapons
This week Costa Rica got a lot of world-wide attention with three hot news stories.
A Costa Rican court sentenced former president Miguel Angel Rodriguez to five years in prison Wednesday after finding him guilty of taking bribes from French telecoms giant Alcatel. Alcatel is no stranger to kickbacks, in Dec, 2010, US Securities and Exchange Commission nailed them with 137 million U.S. dollars in fines and penalties for bribes.
And Costa Rica continues to be the hub for drug traffickers when another drug sub was nailed off Costa Rica by a US Coast Guard cutter with 6.4 tons of Cocaine.
However, the one we consider the most important; on April 27ths, the government of Costa Rica passed a law prohibiting Uranium Weapons in its borders, which makes Costa Rica the second country to pass a national ban. Belgium was the first.
Uranium weapons, often called ‘depleted’ uranium (DU) weapons, are manufactured from radioactive waste materials produced during the nuclear fuel chain and the production of nuclear weapons. They cause widespread and long lasting contamination of the environment. These weapon systems are radiologically and chemically toxic. Read more... (495 words, 3 images, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)
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