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Nicaragua's new tax law makes 'boosts inequality'

Monday, December 17, 2012


Nicaragua missed a golden opportunity to address structural inequalities under a government that’s having a hard time living up to its socialist billing, according to tax expert Julio Francisco Báez.

The “Tax Concertation Law,” passed by Sandinista lawmakers on Nov. 30, reaffirms Nicaragua’s position as one of the most regressive and unbalanced tax systems in Latin America, Báez said.

“Nicaragua lost a great opportunity with this law; this isn’t Robin Hood, this is Hood Robin — it’s backwards,” Báez says, referring to Nicaragua’s corporate welfare state that gives massive exonerations to wealthy investors while saddling the poor with a regressive 15 percent value-added tax.

Source: Nicaragua Dispatch