Contraloría says Limón
can't handle garbage needs


The Municipalidad de Limón does not have the ability to administer garbage collection and is failing in its constitutional duty to maintain a health environment, said the Contraloría de la República Monday after a study.

Garbage always has been a problem on the Caribbean coast, but the Contraloría report said it deplored the fact that Limón is spending more than 300 million colons ($577,000) already this year to haul trash some 200 kms (124 miles) to the Los Mangos landfill in Alajuela.

Limón is not collecting enough money to pay for this service and has run a large deficit said the Contraloría, which is the nation's financial watchdog.

The report called on the mayor and municipal council to immediately address the problem.
 
Saudi investor considers
more hotels for Papagayo


Saudi investor Al-Waleed bin Talal Alsaud helicoptered into San José from his Guanacaste vacation spot to meet with President Óscar Arias Sánchez Monday. The meeting was quietly relocated from the Arias Rohrmoser home to Casa Presidencial.

An Arias press release said that the man, one of the world's richest, was considering more hotel investments in Costa Rica. He has a 20 percent stake in the Four Seasons group where he is staying as well as other hotel properties around the world.

The release said that Costa Rica had an appropriate democratic system and political stability. His country is an absolute monarchy. Al-Waleed said that he might open two hotels more in Papagayo and suggested the Fairmont chain and Raffles, as well as the possibility of putting four to six hotels elsewhere. Papagayo is a government project directed by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo.

Trade treaty opponent here


David Edeli, senior organizer for Global Trade Watch, will talk about the Free Trade Treaty with the United States today at 2:30 p.m. at the chapel in the former Sión building on the grounds of the legislature. His organization is part of Public Citizen, which opposes the treaty. He is being hosted by the Partido Acción Ciudadana.

New university on agenda


Lawmakers this month will see a proposal to found a new public technical university in Alajuela. The bill was listed as a priority by the executive branch Monday. This would be the fifth public university, but officials of the other four have not been strongly supportive.

Insurance and real estate tax
contain hidden aspects

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

A couple of comments on the insurance and home tax situation here in Costa Rica.

The idea of a "progressive" tax is very popular. The more the house costs, the more the tax will be. That seems fair with the popular idea that the rich should pay more.
 
The catch here is inflation. The house that today costs $100,000 will cost $200,000 in a little over 7 years at the current rate of inflation. Houses that cost $200,000 will cost $400,000, etc. By passing this legislation the government is, in effect, voting themselves more of your money when you want to buy a new house in the future.

The demand for housing will increase in the future as more U.S. citizens retire. This will also cause an increase in the taxes.

Progressive income taxes killed production in England around the 1960s. And increase in pay meant that the government people were actually making less money because it put them in a higher tax bracket. Thus people were refusing raises and refused to take more responsibility or be more productive. The entire country went into a slump as a result until this situation was reversed.
 
The wealthy can afford to a pay for accountants and legislators to keep their taxes low. Warren Buffit, the second richest man in the U.S. recently told one of the presidential candidates that the percent of taxes of some of his executives was higher than his taxes. He was pointing out the inequity of this situation.

Chavez in Venezuela was essentially able to take over because you had a legislature and government that was owned by the rich that was setting up systems that allowed them to become more rich while keeping the vast majority poor. This was capitalism to an extreme. Chávez has the wrong target if he thinks it was the U.S. that caused this situation in Venezuela. He need only look in his own back yard. My wife is Venezuelan and from what I hear Chávez is only putting his people in positions to receive the benefits of being a government. No real change is taking place in the long run.
 
So much for taxes. Let's move on to insurance.
 
I hear from the U.S. that 40 percent of the people in the U.S. don't have health insurance. Isn't that terrible. When I was there I was one of that 40 percent. And the reason I was was because I was healthy. And I would suggest to you that a good portion of those 40 percent are healthy. I eat well and am not overweight. Why should I pay for those who do not eat well and do not take care of themselves?
 
The same applies for auto Insurance. I have been driving for almost 40 years. I have been involved in only two minor accidents at the beginning of that 40 years. I am what you would call a good, aggressive, defensive driver. And yet I pay the same insurance rates as a person who is a bad driver. That is not fair.

I would like to see Costa Rica put in a system of everyone paying a low rate for insurance. And if you have an accident then your rate would go up. If you have several accidents, then you loose your license. This system would encourage poor drivers to drive better because they would know that they would have to pay more if they had an accident. It would encourage better education of new drivers because they would know that they will be paying a high price if they aren't careful.