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Our reader's opinion
An exciting lessonin flexible assessments Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I went to the municipal offices in Quepos to inform the taxation department that I had transferred two relatively nondescript lots in Manuel Antonio from one of my corporations to another and to request a document proving the taxes on both properties had been paid for this year. Simple transaction, yes? After spending close to two hours in front of a young kid while he sat there and read every one of the 30 pages in my corporation's records going back seven years, (while all the other folks in line squirmed in their back busting plastic chairs and gave me Voodoo death looks), I was informed that my least desirable, 1,672-square-meter lot with a view of a road, a lamp post and some trees, and which will need the construction of a bridge in order to access the building site, and which Banco de Costa Rica assessed at $55,000 for the purpose of a loan guarantee, would be valued by the municipalidad next year for the purpose of levying taxes at $191,472!!! I kid you not. I had no idea what was going on or why it was taking such an unconscionably long time to procure such a simple document, nor did I/do I understand why this future evaluation took place at that particular moment. How did my lot skyrocket in value? Apparently the Municipalidad has a "nueva plataforma," a new computer program, for evaluating properties based on things like location, the amount of road frontage, the inclination of the lot, whether or not the utilities are available, (not installed, mind you, just available), and several other components that get fed into the program. Nobody from the Muni is actually going to inspect or evaluate the lot in person like Banco de Costa Rica did. It's all going to be done with computers, smoke and mirrors. I, of course, protested that the new evaluation was ridiculous, (which brought an audible groan from the sufferers in the plastic chairs and caused a few torches to be lit), so the young man returned to his computer for another 15 minutes after which he smiled and presented me with a new/improved evaluation of $85,294, an increase of a mere 64 percent. While this was certainly preferable to an explosion in "value" of 349 percent, it was nonetheless ridiculous since the absolute top end, real world value of the lot in today's depressed market would be $60,000. At the best of times its value wouldn't exceed $75,000 because of the lack of an ocean or mountain view as well as the access problem. My lawyer says that his uncle's cousin's sister knows someone who can work with the municipality on this absurdly predatory reevaluation of my land, (my other lot didn't fare much better), but I still have to question the validity of the program if it can be manipulated so easily that the value of a property can explode by 349 percent and then plummet by 285 percent just because a few data entries get massaged by a civil servant. (Thank you very much by the way, young man!) This is obviously an insidious system with great big fangs and a monetary bloodlust that's WAY not ready for Prime Time, but I'm sure that that's not going to stop the Municipalidad de Quepos or anywhere else from putting it in play ASAP in order to pump up the city coffers. So strap it on, you property owners, and prepare to assume the Crouching Dragon fighting position. The Tax Man cometh and he's hungry! Dean Barbour
Manuel Antonio President presents wish list of future public works By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Laura Chinchilla outlined plans Thursday to spend $6.5 billion during the next four years on public works. The plan is linked to legislative proposals for new taxes and changes in the tax code that will be sent to the legislature soon. Big ticket items include the hydro projects on the rios El Diquis, Reventazón and Savegre, expansion of the national petroleum refinery, construction of a new dock to handle containers at Moín, repair or replacement of up to 150 of the nation's bridges and construction of a building at Liberia's Daniel Oduber airport. Eastertime alcohol law could be repealed By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The annual ritual of covering up the store shelves containing alcohol may end if lawmakers pass a bill that is in the hopper. The bill would end the two-day dry period on Holy Thursday and Good Friday just before Easter each year. The law is a pain for store owners, bar owners and tourism operators, not to mention the Fuerza Pública officers who have to cover the offending store shelves on the Wednesday night before Easter each year. The new election law eliminated the alcohol ban around presidential voting. The only ley seca left is the religious one. Driver faces stiffer charges By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A man sentenced to 24 years for a traffic accident with multiple deaths is going to get a new, stiffer sentence. The man, with the last names of Quesada Fonseca, drove the vehicle that killed Natalia Trejos Sánchez, 18, Rebeca Mena Altamirano, 18, and Diego Quesada Guzmán, 19, Oct. 7, 2008. He was convicted in the Tribunal de Juicio de San José. But on appeal the Sala III upgraded the charges against the man and ordered him to be resentenced.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| Museum brings Guanacaste celebration to the city Sunday |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Central Valley residents will not have to go to Guanacaste Sunday to celebrate the 187th anniversary of the decision by the Partido de Nicoya to join Costa Rica instead of Nicaragua. The Museo Nacional is having a fiesta from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. under the title Cultura y Naturaleza. Planned are dances, music, food typical of Guanacaste, and bombas, those witty Guanacaste epigrams uttered orally. "The objective of the festival is so that those attending live and feel the roots of the Guanacaste identity," said María Elena Masís who is coordinating the Sunday event. The museum is just east of the Plaza de la Democracia in downtown San José |
Dancing will be by the
Compañía de Danza Folclórica Huanacaxtle.
Walter Quesada is the man who will deliver the bombas. There also will
be the typical cimarrona or band and mascaradas, the giant figures. At
3 p.m. the marimbas of the Centro Nacional de la Música will
perform. Most politicians will not make the museum event. They will be at the consejo de gobierno with President Laura Chinchilla in Nicoya. That will be in the Coopealianza building at 8:30 a.m. An hour later in the Parque de Nicoya there will be the event open to the public. The trip by the sitting president to Nicoya on July 25 is a long tradition. |
| Sala IV puts decision on open pit mine in laps of politicians |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala IV constitutional court says it is up to the legislative or executive branch to cancel an existing mining concession if these branches of the government so desire. The mine in question is the Crucitas project operated by Industrias Infinito S.A. The court instructed its press office to provide the text of part of its decision released earlier on the mining project. In effect, the court was putting the political decision on the mine back with the politicians. An effective public relations ploy, a march from San José to the mine site in Cutris de San Carlos has put the public focus back on the mine, which has not yet started production. Activists want President Laura Chinchilla to |
annul a
decree by former president Óscar Arias Sánchez that said
the mine was
in the national interest. The court said that the political branches can withdraw the concession. But the country also would be liable for claims by the mining company. The company, a subsidiary of a Canadian firm, has in place an exploitation permit which provides the rights to mine the Crucitas concession comprising 1,200 hectares. In addition to the exploitation permit on the 1,200 hectares associated with the Crucitas project, the company holds 15 times this amount of ground, or 18,000 hectares in exploration concessions adjacent to the Crucitas concession. Gold has more than quadrupled in price since the project began. |
| And we always thought that happiness is a warm puppy |
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| Happiness is what
one feels, is, thinks, does, has, or all of the above. At least
that seems to be the cautious conclusion of the various pollsters
through the years. Whatever the criteria, in all polls Costa Rica turns up among the first 10. (Except for one I came across that found Nigeria No. 1 in happiness). So just trying to figure out what makes for happiness that qualifies a whole country to rank high or low, can make one pretty unhappy. The latest results, which were sent to me from a friend, is by Gallup Global Pollsters, the results of which, according to them show that the happiest countries in Europe are Denmark, Finland and Norway. In the Americas, Costa Rica ranks the first followed by Canada and Panamá. Their study also found that money does contribute to happiness. In Denmark the per capita income is $36,000 a year. The pollsters also found that those with money said that spending it on others made them happier than spending it on themselves did. All of the Scandinavian countries have healthy incomes, as well as do their people, but the latter also pay the highest taxes in the world. In fact, a family of four in the U.S. has the lowest income taxes after families in México. It is hard to figure where Costa Rican taxes rank, but besides personal and corporate taxes, there is a consumption tax. The income level of Costa Ricans is not high but the government does provide safety nets as do the wealthier countries. The difference between happy and not so happy seems to be partly dependent upon what you get for your taxes. The so-called happiest countries help provide some form of guaranteed affordable medical coverage so that people do not have to worry that a catastrophic medical condition can wipe them out. The higher taxes also insure security (an important ingredient in happiness) like generous pensions and humane working conditions. Somewhere in there one should mention the long vacations. One reason Costa Rica consistently ranks high in the happiness index is something expats and visitors both admire and complain about: the strong social networks and family ties. It can be irritating to newcomers used to |
getting fast service (or think that service was more efficient in their native countries) and then have to wait to be attended to while employees are greeting one another with air kisses and catching up with news of their families or just what happened on the way to work. Close ties with family and friends is important to the Tico sense of well being. In the final analysis, I think happiness is subjective, and fleeting. Moments of happiness can be sharing a belly laugh with a family member, enjoying a cup of coffee and conversation in the middle of the morning with family or friends, hitting a hole in one on the golf course, finding the perfect blouse you can afford that goes perfectly with a pair of slacks, or mastering some skills you didn’t know you had, or getting curtain calls for a performance. Or coming away from the gym having done your personal best on the treadmill, or having a good hair day. These moments may not last but a string of them can add up to contentment. A general satisfaction with the way life is going, and of course, the freedom to enjoy that life is, in short, what pollsters call happiness. So, back to the first word — how one feels. And that really is how one feels about oneself. If you like the way you look, how much or little you weigh, etc. etc., what you have achieved or are trying to. How unworried you are about your health, how people treat you and how you treat others…then, well… Happiness is truly a subjective thing, and insofar as society and a system of government or money and possessions, or even the climate help to further enhance how we feel about ourselves, then we are happy. And that is probably what it’s all about, Alfie, or whomever. It’s pretty hard to get firm statistics on that. But pollsters will continue to try. |
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| A child contemplates what is
being left behind as his family is forced to move. |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Dennis Rogers
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| Police oust 200 families who invaded
Quepos property |
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By Dennis Rogers
and the A.M. Costa Rica staff Police moved in Thursday and evicted about 200 families that had created a community in La Managua de Quepos not far from the Escuela El Estadio. The event was sad but peaceful. Police had conferred earlier with members of the community and told them what was coming. Still some 60 members of the Fuerza Pública, officers of the local municipal police and even the security ministry's canine unit and tactical squad showed up to evict the residents and provide security for workmen who began to demolish the homes. Also there were immigration agents. The total was close to 100 law enforcement personnel, the security ministry said later. Former residents salvaged whatever they could with the intention of constructing another dwelling somewhere. Some items were left behind to be crushed and destroyed by heavy equipment. Abandoned goods included a teddy bear and a smiling Barney toy. Police were responding to a court order. The land belongs to the Consejo Nacional de Producción. The community members, called precaristas in Spanish or simply squatters in English, had hoped to gain possession rights by setting up homes on public property. The security ministry said that the squatter community was a source of criminality, including robberies and drug sales, and untreated sewage. The ministry said that members of a local gang were identified as some of those living on the site. Displaced resident Elvin López said the squatters had been there about nine months. Others suggested the camp was about half Costa Ricans and half foreigners, mostly Nicaraguans. Immigration police on the scene would not comment, except to say that there were lots of immigrants. Many probably are legal now given the many children |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Dennis Rogers
As soon as occupants left, workers with machinery moved in to
destroy the roughly-built houses.present probably born in Costa Rica. Marlon Cubillo, head of the Puntarenas region for the Fuerza Pública, said no resistance was offered. Cubillo said that many of these people "dedicate themselves to delinquency and have some sort of legal process" underway against them. He said that there were all sorts of people there, saying "some work and the ones who don´t work do other things like deal drugs" and that the squatter settlement lowers property values around it. Cubillo said some of those evicted went directly to the Instituto Mixta de Ayuda Social, the country's main welfare agency, asking what they could expect. One evicted resident, Rodrigo Jiménez, said he works as a gardener at a Quepos hotel. Young Yaimi Sandoval viewed the proceedings from the arms of her mother Yaimy Madrigal. The family will go "where ever destiny takes us," according to the baby´s father, Luis Alberto Sandoval. |
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
 Photo by Michael Fair
This is one of the signs parents posted on the school
fence. It says they do not want the director.Sierpe parents protest
against school director Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Parents of children at the elementary school in Sierpe de Osa have been blocking access for the school director. They want her to be removed. The parents accuse the director of poor management. The protest has been going on all week, according to residents in that community. The director has been at the school for eight years. Parents say that the physical condition of the school has deteriorated during that time. Education ministry officials are aware of the case but have not yet taken action. Annexation fiesta at art gallery Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Hidden Garden Art Gallery is hosting the Guanacaste Annexation Fiesta: A Celebration of Art and Culture, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday with performances from Folk Dance Jaguarandi Group at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Numerous artists, both national and international, will be presenting original new pieces portraying their love of Guanacaste, and through various mediums tell stories about human origins and relationships with nature. The gallery is located 5 kilometers west of the Liberia international airport. |
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