Taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Taxes on goods and services was 8.3% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica, 1972–2024
Source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % value added of industry and services.
Analysis
The most recent figure for taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica is 8.3%, measured in 2024.
The figure is up 2.1% on the previous year and down 3.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica peaked at 11.3% in 2007 and was at its lowest, 5.1%, in 1989.
Costa Rica ranks 97th of 154 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 51 years of available data.
Taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % value added of industry and services | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 7.2% | — |
| 1973 | 8.0% | +12.0% |
| 1974 | 7.4% | -7.5% |
| 1975 | 7.0% | -5.3% |
| 1976 | 6.9% | -2.2% |
| 1977 | 7.0% | +2.0% |
| 1978 | 7.2% | +2.2% |
| 1979 | 6.4% | -10.8% |
| 1980 | 6.7% | +5.4% |
| 1981 | 6.1% | -9.7% |
| 1982 | 5.9% | -2.1% |
| 1983 | 8.7% | +46.6% |
| 1984 | 8.9% | +1.7% |
| 1985 | 7.7% | -12.9% |
| 1986 | 7.9% | +2.5% |
| 1987 | 8.0% | +0.7% |
| 1988 | 5.6% | -30.3% |
| 1989 | 5.1% | -8.1% |
| 1990 | 7.6% | +47.6% |
| 1991 | 6.4% | -15.1% |
| 1992 | 8.7% | +35.5% |
| 1993 | 8.5% | -2.3% |
| 1994 | 8.0% | -5.2% |
| 1995 | 8.5% | +5.2% |
| 1996 | 10.5% | +23.6% |
| 1997 | 10.5% | +0.1% |
| 1998 | 10.7% | +2.1% |
| 1999 | 10.7% | +0.3% |
| 2000 | 10.8% | +1.2% |
| 2001 | 11.1% | +2.8% |
| 2004 | 10.4% | -7.0% |
| 2005 | 10.5% | +1.6% |
| 2006 | 10.7% | +2.0% |
| 2007 | 11.3% | +5.4% |
| 2008 | 11.0% | -2.5% |
| 2009 | 9.1% | -17.3% |
| 2010 | 8.9% | -2.8% |
| 2011 | 9.1% | +2.9% |
| 2012 | 8.9% | -2.6% |
| 2013 | 8.9% | -0.3% |
| 2014 | 8.5% | -3.8% |
| 2015 | 8.5% | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 8.5% | -0.2% |
| 2017 | 8.1% | -5.1% |
| 2018 | 7.8% | -3.7% |
| 2019 | 7.7% | -0.6% |
| 2020 | 7.4% | -4.5% |
| 2021 | 8.5% | +14.5% |
| 2022 | 7.9% | -6.4% |
| 2023 | 8.1% | +2.3% |
| 2024 | 8.3% | +2.1% |
Costa Rica compared with similar countries
- Costa Rica's 8.3% is below the median for high income countries, which is 11.7%, 71% of the median. (55 countries reporting)
- Costa Rica's 8.3% is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 9.1%, 91% of the median. (25 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | +47.6% | 5.1% | 7.6% |
| 1983 | +46.6% | 5.9% | 8.7% |
| 1992 | +35.5% | 6.4% | 8.7% |
| 1988 | -30.3% | 8.0% | 5.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 7.1% | 6.4% | 8.0% | 8 |
| 1980s | 7.1% | 5.1% | 8.9% | 10 |
| 1990s | 9.0% | 6.4% | 10.7% | 10 |
| 2000s | 10.6% | 9.1% | 11.3% | 8 |
| 2010s | 8.5% | 7.7% | 9.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | 8.0% | 7.4% | 8.5% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
- 94 Saint Lucia 8.4% compare
- 95 Uzbekistan 8.4% compare
- 96 Rwanda 8.3% compare
- 98 Madagascar 8.2% compare
- 99 Cambodia 8.1% compare
- 100 Cameroon 8.1% compare
More public sector data for Costa Rica
- Arms imports 8.00 million SIPRI trend indicator values (2019)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), per capita 1.6 SIPRI trend indicator values per person (2019)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), per unit of GDP 0.0001 SIPRI trend indicator values per US$ of GDP (2019)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), gaps filled 8.00 million SIPRI trend indicator values (2019)
- Military expenditure (current USD), per capita 0 current USD per person (2024)
- Military expenditure (current USD), per unit of GDP 0 current USD per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Military expenditure (current USD), gaps filled 0 current USD (2024)
- Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values), per square kilometre 156.68 SIPRI trend indicator values per square kilometre (2019)
- Military expenditure (current USD), per square kilometre 0 current USD per square kilometre (2023)
- Tax revenue 13.5% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica?
- Taxes on goods and services in Costa Rica was 8.3% in 2024, according to Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest taxes on goods and services recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 11.3% in 2007.
- What is the lowest taxes on goods and services recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 5.1% in 1989.
- How does Costa Rica rank for taxes on goods and services?
- Costa Rica ranks 97th out of 154 countries with data for 2024.
- Is taxes on goods and services rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 3.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Taxes on goods and services (% value added of industry and services). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 51 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
General taxes on goods and services are taxes levied on the production, leasing, delivery, sale, purchase or other change of ownership of a wide range of goods and the provision of a wide range of services. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of value added in industry and services which is the contribution to the economy by industries in ISIC (Rev. 3) divisions 05-43 and 50-99.