Legislator from Partido Unión Social Cristiana (PUSC) Rafael Ortiz proposed an increase in the tax of non-alcoholic beverages.
The 2% increase in the tax would only last 5 years, and it would include soft drinks, juice concentrates and other liquid beverages, except milk and water.
According to Ortiz, the tax was created in July 2001 by the Law of Tax Simplification and Efficiency.
The resources generated, 10 billion colones a year, would be collected by the Ministry of Finance in order to transfer it to the budget of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) to acquire expensive drugs.
Angelica Vargas, head of the department of drugs and treatments on clinic therapy from the CCSS, explained that the resources are necessary even though the Fund has an annual budget of 235 million dollars to cover from 97% to 98% of the total medicine purchase.
The project will be sent to the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Legislative Assembly.