Reading of the Moody's report below brought me to write this post.
Panama is becoming much more aggressive in it's taxing and collection over the past year because It needs great bond ratings in order to get the money needed to expand the canal. The coffers are running over with money from the "5% of everything tax", but they will need more, much more and to get it they have to tax more. One of the most vile forms of taxing comes in the form of property tax and Panama is moving in that direction from all indicators. Why do I detest property taxes so? Don't we need to tax property in order to bring in the revenues for infrastructure, health and education? NO we don't. If you must pay property tax the consequences of not doing so will cause you to lose the property in most cases. If that is the case, you are really renting the property and failure to pay the rent will get you evicted. I am more in favor of tax on consumption or tax on goods I buy where at least I have a choice of what I want to buy and pay taxes on. When governments begin to taste the blood of property taxes they only have to raise the rate whenever more revenue is needed, which is what they always do. Raise the "5% on everything" tax if you must but keep your hands off property Panama!
Excerpt:
'The strong performance of services exports, including tourism, domestic consumption, and investment activity in preparation for the Panama Canal expansion, are key contributors to such growth,' Moody's vice president and senior analyst Alessandra Alecci said.
She added: 'Given the economy's sensitivity to the external environment, a severe downturn in global conditions would pose significant challenges to Panama's performance.'
With the shake up going on in the sub prime market, that last sentence strikes a chord with me.
Read the story here.....
