A bill that seeks to extend the collection of tax or parafiscal contribution to finance programs of the Costa Rican Red Cross moves forward in Congress. The initiative, proposed by several legislators, was affirmatively ruled by the Committee on Economic Affairs of the Legislative Assembly.
Currently, a 1% contribution is charged to the monthly billing of conventional, mobile, prepaid or postpaid telephony services for the Red Cross. However, the proposing legislators believe it must be expanded by the constant evolution of telecommunications.
The current trend is to establish short and long distance communications through virtual platforms through the use of the Internet, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Skype, among others. Thus causing the need to adapt and reform the law in accordance with the current needs, conditions and requirements that allow to continue receiving a proportional and adequate income so that the Red Cross Association continues to provide an optimal service in emergency, pre-hospital and transfer care of patient in the Costa Rican territory,”
indicates the text.
Therefore, the congressmen propose extending the so-called “red tax” to telecommunications services, including mobile, traditional telephony, VolP telephony, fixed and mobile Internet.
The initiative will now go to the Legislative Plenary for discussion and vote in two regulatory readings.