Costa Rica’s Finance Ministry has increased the selective consumption tax applied to electric vehicles, a change Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves announced Wednesday evening and which the country’s electric mobility industry says was already mandated by legislation approved four years ago.
Chaves, who also serves as Minister of the Presidency, said in a television interview that he had signed the decree that day. He gave two figures in the course of his remarks. He said electric vehicles had been paying a 6% rate and that the government intends to bring that figure to 30%, and he said separately that the rate applied immediately is 7.5%.
The minister defended the measure on the grounds that Costa Rica’s potential contribution to combating climate change is minimal. He questioned the electric vehicle incentive policies pursued by previous administrations and said the country should concentrate its resources on measures that produce direct benefits.
Silvia Rojas, director of the Costa Rican Electric Mobility Association, known by its Spanish acronym Asomove, disputed the characterization of the change as a government initiative. She said the 2022 reform to the Green Transport Incentives Law had already established that electric vehicles would begin paying 25% of the full 30% selective consumption rate, the figure of 7.5% that Chaves announced, and that the schedule called for that step to take effect last year rather than this week.
“The announcement is not about new taxes,” Rojas said, describing the decree instead as the law being carried out as written. Rojas also set out the remaining schedule the legislation establishes. By 2028, electric vehicles would pay half the selective consumption rate, equivalent to 15 percentage points of the 30. By 2031 the proportion rises to three quarters, or 22.5 points.
In 2034, the full 30% applies. The same law governs reduced value added tax and customs valuation rates for electric vehicles alongside the selective consumption levy. The minister did not address how vehicles already imported or awaiting customs clearance will be treated, and publication of the decree in La Gaceta, the official gazette, has not been confirmed.
Electric vehicle registrations have been rising steadily. Figures compiled by Asomove recorded 1,064 new electric vehicles registered in April 2026 alone, of which 1,007 were passenger cars, with the remainder made up of motorcycles, specialised vehicles and work vehicles.
The decree emerged from a wider fiscal package the Finance Ministry presented Wednesday, comprising more than 15 bills covering electronic invoicing, penalties for tax evasion, the regulation of exemptions and a reform of income tax. Chaves has said the government does not intend to create new taxes, and the ministry has indicated that applying the 13% value added tax to the basic food basket remains under consideration, subject to conditions.
Chaves said in the same interview that the ministry will file a separate bill in September to simplify and reduce the taxes levied on alcohol and cigarettes. He did not specify the size of the proposed reduction, saying only that the initiative would cover both categories.
