Another hidden U.S. tax
is self-employment levy

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Another small detail that is very important to add to your factual article is one regarding U.S. taxes: Most expats will look at the tax threshold of $95,100 and say "no problem" as they never made that amount even when working. However, self-employment tax is another matter. U.S. citizens still have a tax liability if they earn as little as $400 a year. Even a small side business can generate a hefty tax along with an even stronger penalty for failure to pay and late payment (two different penalties.)  Indeed, "Uncle Sam has a long memory."  An expat can face years worth of back taxes and penalties that can add to the misery of not knowing all the facts beforehand.
 


Expat explains exactly why
he and wife are leaving here

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Here's why we've decided to leave Costa Rica

You've heard all the complaints of Costa Rica before. So had we. Our thoughts were usually of dismissal and in hindsight denial. We actually got mad and were secretly telling them to leave if they didn't like it.  The common statistics for expatriates living in Costa Rica are not good. Most move back within five years. But, I thought our situation was different. I'm married to a Tica. She speaks English, and I speak Spanish. We live in a local community and most of our friends are Ticos. She's a professional, and we live frugally.

We also have had many friends who are in similar situations to ours: foreigners married to Costa Ricans. Almost all have left. When I first came to Costa Rica nine years ago, life was different. People bitched about other things, like the roads. But for a while things seemed to be getting a bit better. Unfortunately, we can't think of anything that is getting better now. The price of groceries and restaurants is crazy (I know, eat rice & beans), gas is the highest in Central America, Consumer prices are ridiculous, and real estate prices are not even close to being justified.

On the surface the Caja looks good. But if you need to see a doctor, try lining up for hours to see one. And, you'll never see the same doctor twice. So we always use private doctors. They used to be reasonable but not anymore.

Most doing business here will sing a similar song. Fees, regulations, bureaucracy, permitting and labor costs have all spiked. Many business people that I know have closed their operations down or are struggling to survive. Electricity costs have doubled in a few years. The tourism and hospitality industries are in pain, mostly because they've been forced to price themselves out of the market. Taxes have gone up on rental income, homes over $230,000 and S.A.'s. 50 percent of the Costa Rican government's annual expenditures are made with borrowed funds, not sustainable says the big credit rating agencies. Now the government is pondering new taxes like targeting passive income (interest), money coming into the country, a VAT and a wealth tax. The official unemployment rate is already over 10 percent and supposed to rise.

My wife is educated and holds two masters degrees. She has seniority, and yet she takes home about $1,200. This is very good compared to most in Costa Rica. For the average Tico, life is incredibly difficult. Mortgage and loan rates are nuts. We realized that things were different when we had our first child. It's difficult to find activities for them. Playing in the neighborhood is unheard of without supervision. The streets and roads are dangerous: no pedestrian rights and terrible drivers. Everybody lives either with locked gates, bars, razor wire or in tight gated communities. There is spectacular nature, but you have to drive for hours to get to it and fight horrendous traffic. Pollution is terrible: garbage everywhere, sewage in the rivers, the air in the Central Valley is horrible and trash is an epidemic countrywide. The public schools are substandard (in my opinion), and private schools have become very expensive.

Over the last few year most people that we know, expats, or expats married to Costa Ricans, have left. We were always slightly offended when another one did. But, now we've given up the fight and are starting a new life elsewhere (Canada). We'll come back to Costa Rica to visit the wonderful nature and our relatives. Maybe we'll enjoy it more in small doses.



Tragedy brings the community
together as a single family


People have spoken at length, here and elsewhere, about the differences between living in the United States and in Costa Rica, but recent experiences have lead me to what may be the heart of the matter, at least for many of us.

There was a disaster in our small area near Lake Arenal.  A man and his son were swept downhill by a landslide and buried beneath tons of debris.

And everything seemed to stop.

This was not a case of a man who jumped in his car and went to work 25 miles from home to an office filled with strangers who had all come from other areas 25 miles away.  This was a man who walked to work or rode a few miles with someone who picked him up on the road.  He wasn’t hitchhiking, just walking and waiting.  He was a man who worked with his hands, milking cows, cutting brush, moving stones.  He was a man with a family, and everyone seemed to know him, his wife, his children.  They knew his parents, too, and his parents’ families.  They were related, intertwined, a community.

And then he fell; he and his young son.  And everything seemed to stop.

Everything except the community.  They were there, in force.  Not just fire and rescue, but men who left work with shovels and picks.  Men who had to work, but who came after work, or were sent by their employers.  More picks.  More shovels.   They went down into the arroyo, 30 feet below the road.  They stood in the mud and the rain and worked.  There was danger of further landslides, collapses, and still they worked.  They refused to come up to the trucks where women waited with food and water, so provisions were thrown down into the arroyo for them, or carried down in baskets.

Women were there with their children who could not be left at home.  Women who stood and waited with the family; women who gave support and comfort and hope.  Women with strong hands and strong hearts.

And Gringos were there too, saying, “We are one family, one community.”   The strong worked alongside of the men in the arroyo.  The women helped with food and support.

We are one family, one community.

Today we celebrate a Mass for the family.  Our family.  Here in Costa Rica, we know that we are united.  That death can separate us from loved ones, but that the family goes on.

And somehow it seems that here, in Costa Rica, we are finally getting it right.



All gas fuel is not the same,
and uncertainty is dangerous

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

When you report price changes for gasoline price, you often report the LPG price change. Sometimes you refer to the product as  "Liquid Natural Gas" (LNG).  It is dangerous to confuse the two. Appliances need to be set up for the gas to be supplied.  In Costa Rica,  the fuel is LPG.
 
LPG is mostly propane and/or butane, it is heavier than air and in confined spaces leaks settle to the lowest level, where it can suffocate sleeping persons and be ignited.  Improper combustion can easily lead to carbon monoxide, a colorless odorless poisonous gas.

LNG is mostly methane, must be stored at a cold temperature to stay as a liquid and tanks need to be heavily insulated. When it is a gas, it is lighter than air and rises to the ceiling in confined spaces.  In the U.S.A., natural gas is available at most suburban and urban areas, delivered thru underground pipes, but not as a liquid.
 
Appliances imported thru regular commercial routes are probably set for LPG, but appliances that are imported used and/or for personal use may be set up for natural gas.