Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

In reply to Mr. Alonzo Guzman about the maritime zone law. It is not the expait that is the problem. It is Costa Rica CORRUPTION within itself. In most cases it is the local MUNI. Across the road from me an expait somehow put up a sign on what was a drain area for the roads and advertised it as TITTLED waterfront property to the 50 meter zone.

Down the street from me at the entrance to Playa Potrero, the hillside at one curve is being demolished and all the material is dropped across the street from me on this property?? Who hired the workers? I do not know, but this is BEING DONE under the watchful EYES of the local MUNI. That drives by every week.

He is selling the property for over $3 million and advertised as such in the local newsletters. HOW can this be done, and why are your presidents in questions walking the streets freely, and one refuses to come back to the country?

The police for MOPT are at it again. I was stopped for going 80 kms. The chief of police said that no more tickets for under 90 kms. Because of the corruption. When the officer took my license and checked the car, I reached in my pocket and pulled a 5,000-colon bill and held it up against my door. The officer gave me a talk and TOOK the money. No ticket!!. Maybe they need it as they are low paid and not getting their yearly raise as they should. My son on his way back to San José was doing 120 kms and was stopped. He asked the officer what it would take, and the reply was 5,000 colons. We should have video recorders in our cars like the police in the States and document these bribes.

I am leaving as the taxes are crazy now. The aduana wants all packages opened that come through a courier service, and you have to pay a tax PLUS the storage charge on anything that comes in. Just got that note from my mail service
Latin Americans blamed
from Latin poverty

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Mr. Guzman’s national pride really swelled up in his letter to this paper when he assailed foreign critics of country’s new proposed tax package and the foreigners paying high prices for property. The trouble with a swollen national pride is that there is not much room left inside the brain for clear and pondered thinking.

Those “who do not like how we do business here should fly away,” says Mr. Guzman. The Costa Ricans know that the bad roads, the crime rate high, the widespread corruption, the “slimy business conducted,” and a lesser per capita income than the U.S. are their fault, for it is they, through their own choice of elected officials, who have allowed it to be, by not demanding that it be otherwise. As Carlos Alberto Montaner, Cuban writer, has pointed out in countless writings, Latin America’s poverty is due to the Latin Americans themselves, no one else. But to recognize that is to recognize a personal shortcoming. And that would only worsen the view of themselves. With defending the indefensible as impossible, nothing is left but to attack the flaws of their critics, as Mr. Guzman has done.

Rather than drive off the foreign investment goose, which is laying golden eggs for thousands of Costa Rican, Mr. Guzman should set the example for his fellow citizens on how to become golden geese, and then maybe land and labor wouldn’t be so cheap, making it possible for the foreigners to take advantage of Costa Rica’s poverty.

Those opposed to tax plan
put in three groupings

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:
   
I have enjoyed reading the repartee between A.M. Costa Rica readers concerning the new value-added tax laws. Although I must admit some readers sound a bit
kindergardenish. Here is my two cent worth of observations. To our Costa Rican friend that read A.M. Costa Rica, I see three groups of North Americans opposed to the tax law changes:

1.    Those of us that don’t like taxation period. If taxation must be done, then the monies should be posted for all to see, divided up and sent back to the county (or state) to use as they see fit. I would count myself in this group.

2.    The second group are the people that fear change. I feel safe in saying this is a universal group. You should have no problem finding North Americans, Europeans and Latin American that fit this category.

3.    The third group that I see are the people that are trying to make a buck. They will moan and groan, threaten and holler. The truth is if they take their money and go home, you haven’t lost anything. They are interested in their bottom line not your country or for that matter not their country either.
 
To the North American reader of A.M. Costa Rica like myself I would say if the Costa Ricans implement this new VA tax plan like it appears they will, you should read and understand the new tax law to see how it will affect you, then adjust to the law or leave the country. If you really wanted to affect the law, you would have become a Tico citizen and used your influence to craft a better plan.
 
I have read Mr. Alonzo Guzman’s comments about the North American attitude on the new tax law and I find that he makes some good points even if I didn’t like the spirit with which they were given. Mr. Guzman, the point that struck me the most was the one about speculators driving up the land and housing cost to a level that middle-class Costa Ricans can’t afford to buy property in their own country.

On one of my recent visits to your country, I was checking out some land, and, frankly, I think the speculators, both North American and Costa Rican, are driving the cost beyond both middle-class Tico and American budgets and that is just wrong. If the new tax laws can remedy some of this, more power to it. Otherwise I fear a Socialist land reform, and I don’t think that is good for anybody.
 
Nobody asked, but if you did, I would suggest that a major tax change should be approved by the elected officials, then put before the citizens for a vote. Representative government should only go so far before the people have a say. By the way, I would like to see the same provisions implemented here in the States.