Tax Reform Meets Severe Resistance
Three out of four people with some knowledge of the fiscal plan, reject the proposal launched by the Government to increase tax collection.
That scenario reflects the most recent survey conducted by the firm Unimer for La Nacion, between the 4th and 10th of January.
According to the study, 75% of people said they were informed about the proposed tax but are against against it’s initiative, 13% supported the reform and the remaining 12% did not vote either way.
Of 1,200 people surveyed in their homes across the country, 794 people have some degree of knowledge about the tax plan.
In the latter case, the margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. In the total survey, the margin of error is of 2.8 percentage points.
The fiscal plan would transform the sales tax on a tax on value added tax (VAT) and raise the rate from 13% to 14%.
This is taxed services that are now exempt, such as lawyers and engineers, but by education and private health pay a tax of 2%. Canada has a similar “Goods and Services Tax” called the GST.
Laura Chinchilla’s administration insists that reform is needed to help plug the hole in public finances.
Last year, the fiscal deficit amounted to 4.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) and, for this year, the government is forecasting 5.5%.
The percentage of people who are aware of the tax project rose significantly in the last ten months.
In a survey conducted by Unimer in March 2011, 39% said they had heard of the initiative. Today, the percentage is 63.
Among those who know the subject, only a fifth said they were fairly or very informed. The rest is declared minimal or uninformed.
More income, more support. Reform gets more support in the group of people with higher income than in low and middle income.
According to the figures, 2 in 10 people with high incomes supports the project, while in the other groups, only 1 in 10.
Within political parties the project receives the most support among supporters of the National Liberation Party (PLN) and the lowest among the Citizen Action Party (PAC).
Tax reform was driven by an agreement reached by the president and the former candidate’s PAC, Otton Solis, in September.
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