Nicaragua

Taxes for a better future

The country will not be able to adopt a sustainable development model unless it can overcome its current lack of resources. The country has serious environmental problems including over-exploitation of the soil, the nearexhaustion of fishing resources, increasing deforestation due to indiscriminate tree cutting and unsustainable practices in agriculture, and overdependence on coffee as a cash crop, which depletes soil fertility and pollutes water resources. Yet the State’s coffers are empty. The way forward is to completely reform the taxation system to make it fairer, and to invest the extra funds in education and in promoting methods of production that cause less damage to the environment.