Tax Reform

Fuels had an important impact on the September price drop, with a 7% reduction in the price of gasoline and 2.35% in diesel.

The tax reform, which includes tax increases, was approved in December to counteract a fiscal deficit that last year reached 6% of GDP.

The court reasoned the strikes have not being peaceful and have affected essential services.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court declared on Friday that the tax reform bill is constitutional. The bill will now go back to congress, where enough legislators have announced their support for the bill for it to pass.

Workers from the public sector attend a vigil at Plaza de la Democracia during a strike called by the unions to protest against a tax reform project in San Jose, Costa Rica on November 7, 2018.

For the first time in history, the Costa Rican Colon surpassed 600 colones per dollar. On Wednesday, some banks were reporting an exchange rate of ₡616 for $1.

Costa Rica’s Plenary Court this week rejected the country’s proposed tax reform bill and asked that four sections of the initiative be corrected. In our second episode of The Tico Times Dispatch Costa Rican journalist and economist David Ching explained the necessity of fiscal reforms.

It’s not often The Tico Times writes an explainer about basic Costa Rican daily living that’s equally surprising to a first-time visitor and a high court justice.

Costa Rica’s controversial fiscal reform proposal took a step toward becoming law Friday evening when the Legislative Assembly approved the bill after a lengthy first debate.

The negotiations to end the strike of the workers from the public sector of Costa Rica came to a dead end this Monday, after the unions refused an agreement mediated by the Catholic Church to depose the strike.