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Two men and two women face investigation because they conducted an elaborate scam to fleece a man who wanted to ship his automobile to the United States, said agents. The four have been arrested, and the vehicle, a Toyota Four Runner was recovered. In effect, agents allege that the four got the man to pay to have them steal his car. The man involved is a Costa Rican with U.S. citizenship. The man wanted to ship his vehicle to Los Angeles, Calif., and somehow he came in contact with two women who said they could get the job done for $2,500. He agreed to pay them the money, and they contacted him several days later, saying all was prepared, said agents. The man drove the vehicle to the Port of Caldera where he encountered two men who said they were employees of the company that would transport the car. They said they |
would place the car in a warehouse
to await loading.
The man took advantage of the shipping by placing in the vehicle some personal items with a value of about $5,000, said investigators. Last week investigators managed to identify the two women they said were involved in the scheme. They arrrested Wednesday a 58-year-old woman with the last names of Quesada Oviedo and a 34-year-old woman with the last names of Castro Quiros. Agents said they are mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Police the next day then tracked the two male suspects to a home in Liberia where they reported they found the vehicle and some of the personal items. The two men finally were located Tuesday. The two men arrested Tuesday at 5 a.m. in San Miguel Higuito and La Trinidad de Moravia were identified by the last names as Salazar Ramírez and Díaz Alvarado. |
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An overhaul of Costa Rica’s tax system has expats worried about two problems even though the details of the plan are not yet set Two major fears have emerged. One concern is paying a double tax on money earned outside Costa Rica. The Costa Rican proposal announced a week ago would tax income from whatever source. The idea is to catch income that Costa Ricans earn abroad. But the measure also would snag income of expats. The second concern has to do with the transparency of the tax process. In order to enforce any overseas tax measure, Costa Rican officials would have to have access to income and banking records in the United States, Canada and in whatever other countries expats hold accounts. Such exchange of information is now done widely among the states and the federal government in the United States. In fact, state taxing authorities frequently get computer data files to make sure their residents have declared all the taxes they should. Providing such information to tax officials here raises security issues. Local officials would learn which foreign resident here had extensive holdings elsewhere in stocks, property and bank accounts. The concern is that such information might assist kidnappers and extortionists here in selecting their targets. The Association of Residents of Costa Rica notes that personal income in Costa Rica is taxed at 10 percent for monthly incomes from $770 to $1,156 at the current rate of exchange (that’s from 270,000 to 405,800 colons). The tax is 15 percent over 405,800 per month, according to an association publication. On a monthly retirement income of $3,000 (1,053,000 colons), a foreign resident could end up paying $392 (137,660 colons) in monthly tax. The resident pays nothing here now because the income is not taxed in Costa Rica if it comes from outside the country. Costa Rican officials have promised that some consideration will be made for taxes paid in the country where the money originates and that a number of deductions will be allowed. |
The tax proposal was put together
by six former ministers of hacienda, the tax-collecting agency, under the
supervision of the current minister Alberto Dent. The proposals have been
delivered to the National Assembly in a 400-plus page book. The assembly
may accept, reject, change or ignore the proposals.
Costa Rica needs the money because it has continually spent more than it took in over the last two decades, and tax collecting is not efficient. The tax proposal is supported by both the outgoing president, Miguel Angel Rodríguez, and incoming president Abel Pacheco. It also calls for a value-added tax to be levied on various financial transactions that are not taxed now. Not everyone in government is happy with the plan. And some politically connected Costa Ricans believe that the government should first work to eliminate corruption and poor tax collecting, particularly in the area of customs, which a study says Ticos believe is the country’s most corrupt institution. Some of the emphasis on taxes here is being encouraged by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group that has as its members the top 30 developed nations in the world. This group promotes "the exchange of information between tax authorities as the best way of fighting non-compliance with the tax laws in an increasingly borderless world," according to the organizations web site: http://www.oecd.org. The group also promotes a value-added tax as a way to obtain more money for governments. The group encourages tax treaties among its members and the other countries in the world as well as action against those countries it sees as tax havens. For example, the group just reached agreement with the nearby tax haven country of Belize, which "has made a commitment to improve the transparency of its tax and regulatory systems and establish effective exchange of information for tax matters with OECD countries by 31 December 2005," said the group’s Web site. |
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