The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, through the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, agreed this Friday to raise the tax on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, wines and beers, as well as cigarettes, according to a ministerial decree published in La Gaceta, Official State Gazette.
The quota was modified from 54 córdobas (1.49 dollars) for each liter of alcohol in 2022, to 60 córdobas (1.66 dollars) in 2023, indicated the Ministry of Finance, which specified that the modification will be applied as of January 1 of next year.
To calculate the new fee, the Treasury used the devaluation rate of the official exchange rate of the córdoba against the dollar as of November 2022, which was 2%, and the variation rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as of November 2022, which closed at 11.38%, “taking the greater of both”.
Likewise, the authorities modified the quota of the specific tax on the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products. As of January of next year, the quota per thousand (1,000) cigarettes will be 3,842 córdobas (106.1 dollars).
Currently the quota is 3,450 córdobas (95.3 dollars) per thousand cigarettes.
Meanwhile, the fee per kilogram of cigarettes (cigars), cigarillos (cigarillos) and tobacco cut to make cigarettes will be 2,562 córdobas (70.7 dollars), higher than the current 2,300 córdobas (63.5 dollars).
The Ministry of Finance used the same formula for alcoholic beverages to modify the specific tax quota for cigarette smoking and other tobacco products.
Through the ministerial agreement, the quota of the specific tax to alcoholic beverages, wines and beers per liter of alcohol, which was initially set at 50 córdobas (1.38 dollars) per liter of alcohol.
Tax collection voracity of the regime
The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo obtained revenues of 90,961 million córdobas between January and September 2022, leaving on that date almost 581 million córdobas to meet the annual goal of 91,542 million in just nine months. of córdobas, according to an analysis of CONFIDENTIAL to the Budget Execution Report to September 2022, published by el Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (MHCP).
In the 2022 annual budget, the regime calculated that it would obtain income of 91,542 million córdobas, and that it would spend a total of 91,802 million, which generated a deficit of 259.7 million córdobas that they expected to finance “through external cooperation from donations and disbursements of concessional loans, as well as placement of Republic Bonds from Nicaragua”.
In the end, the State was able to add 7058.9 million córdobas. Most of it (6807.1 million) thanks to the always generous contribution of resources by lenders and international donors, which allowed raising the income budget to 91 802 million, and the expenditure budget to 98 861 million.
The almost 91,000 million córdobas, entered into the State coffers in the first nine months of the year, implies an average income of 333.2 million córdobas for each of the 273 days elapsed between January 1 and September 30, or almost 41.7 million córdobas per hour.
At the end of January 2019, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Iván Acosta, declared that the tax reform that the Daniel Ortega regime wanted to approve had the mission of raise 300 million dollarswhich was indicative of the gap in public finances, after the socioeconomic crisis caused by Ortega’s violent response to the citizen protests in April 2018, hit tax collection.
