The recent presentation of the declaration of the solidarity tax, commonly referred to as the tax on luxury homes, has once again reflected the constant abuse of the Tax Administration in its intention to legislate for its own benefit.
The solidarity tax -perhaps one of the few tax measures approved during the second government of Óscar Arias- aims to tax the high economic capacity of those who have properties for residential use with values higher than an adjustable value every three years and that in 2022 was ¢ 137 million. To determine that value, the Law establishes that the fiscal value determined by the Tax Administration will be taken into consideration, and this is where the Administration openly abuses. The Administration acts -as in many other cases- in a relationship of judge and party, since it regulates at its convenience the details of said fiscal value, which must consider the Platform of Values by Homogeneous Zones and the Manual of Construction Typologies.
[ Tax on luxury homes will be charged on homes of ¢137 million or more in 2022 ]
In the Platform, which is also used to assess the real estate tax at the municipal level, often capricious valuations are made, where neighboring or adjoining urbanizations and condominiums with the same characteristics have very different values. The same thing has happened in recent years with the Manual of Construction Typologies, where typologies are determined with subjective assessments, and - even more serious - the useful life of many homes has been increased to 120 years, something totally unacceptable and in violation of any principle of coherence in relation to the reality of our buildings, as well as with what is regulated in other taxes such as income.
This situation secretly increases tax contributions by exclusive mandate of the Tax Administration, protected by doubtful and questionable technical criteria.
The absence of prior publicity of these changes, as well as the absence of adequate technical criteria, violates the General Law of Public Administration (6,227), as well as the Political Constitution. But the most worrying thing is that it undermines the trust of taxpayers in the good faith of the Administration, in a relationship that should be based on adequate technical and legal practices for the general good of the country. We hope that the General Directorate of Taxation and the Ministry of Finance rectify these incorrect practices, in order to avoid the intervention of the Courts of Justice and the greater loss of confidence of taxpayers in an already worn treasury-taxpayer relationship.
[ Luxury houses and legal entities: know the keys to the taxes that must be paid in January ]
