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The country has no army â€" it was eliminated in 1948 â€" ut there is a strong police force and tourists are warned not to engage in illegal activities. Apparently jails do not have the same standards as hotels. Other benefits â€" mountains, jungle and rain forests for the explorer, beaches on both coasts for the sun worshipper, shopping and restaurants for the city slicker and gambling casinos for the more daring. Overall, it‘s a good place to visit or retire. Moderate weather, renting a house costs about $500 a month, food is abundant and inexpensive, the econoty is healthy although they. are expecting a recession and the political system is stable. So who‘s footing the bill? a Well, there‘s no doubt the USA has poured lots of the Yankee green stuff in here to develop a model Central American community and foreign investors are being encouraged through tax shelters to invest in Costa Rica. Now San Jose is a sophisticated city. It has a good educational system â€" a 92 per cent literacy level and an extensive university. There is a social medicine system with reliable hospitals. When you add to this the vast agricultural lands and the food distribution systems you‘re getting pretty close to paradise Although the country has the highest standard of living in Central Amerjca, it is also heavily in debt to the International Monetary Fund. 8 And taxes? Sure they have them. There is income tax (10â€"15 per cent), sales tax on goods (13 per cent) and a tax on services (10 per cent). And then there is the big one â€" import tax. The government places import taxes up to three times the value on imported goods. That stings! Imagine paying $60,000 for a car â€" for a plain, simple, nonâ€"luxurious car. How about other things we take for granted â€" VCRs, televisions, washing machines, clothes and imported foods. Suddenly paradise isn‘t so perfect. Paradise like everywhere else needs money to operate. Costa Rica emphasizes tax on a consumer basis. You buy something, you pay tax â€" you buy foreign goods, you pay excessive taxes. This encourages growth in the local economy. â€" Is it paradise? Well, if you were living in Costa Rica and wanted to borrow money, a personal loan will cost you 50 per cent interest per year. If you wanted a bank loan to develop a business property â€" forget it â€" financing is not available. Want to import something â€" 70 per cent downpayment up front, even though delivery may be months away. And now Costa Rica has a new source of revenue. The tourist. He brings in hard currency â€"â€" usu@lly U.S. cash. And this has provided a real boost to their economy. Gambling laws have been modified and the casinos provide additional taxes. Look carefully at that next package of cigarettes, bottle of liquor or your next paycheque. Sure, it‘s a lot of tax and we should look for ways to reduce tax â€" but it‘s our lifestyle we‘re supporting. 545 KING STREET N. WATERLOO (across from Conestoga Mail) Pattie Moran is a corporate banker living in Waterloo â€" 746â€"4120 89 Keren Adderiey Chronicle Staff The middle of a recession year isn‘t generally considered a good time to start a business, especially one that requires significant capital to get going. . But that didn‘t stop Bill and Crystal Strong, the proud owners of their very own printing shop. The Strongs opened their Speedy Printing Centre in Waterloo in October, despite the warnings of friends and the economic conditions, because says Bill, owning their own business was something they had been working towards for "quite a few years." â€" Bill Strong and his wife Crystal are new business owners who are giving something back to the community. Keren Adderiey photo ‘"We‘d been looking around for something for quite a while, and after attending a trade show, we had decided on a printing shop. We immediately started looking at franchises, decided on this one and set it all in motion. Of course, this was a long time before the recession." Bill, who gave up a career as a business and commercial loans officer for a major bank, says the lead time involved in setting up the business was so long that most of the work was already done before the recession set in. We were concerned, of course, about starting a business in this economy; whether this was the thing to do in these times. But, once we had made :f&rmindswedecidodwgoforit,because though it was a risk, we‘re young enough to bounce back if we have to." But Strong says failing isn‘t something he thinks about, and even though the business is only five months old, it has already built a solid client base. We print everything from envelopes and invoices to business cards and letterhead and we also do high speed photocopying, including photocopying for engineering documents. We offer a service that‘s always in demand." Recession didn‘t stop the Strongs from opening own printing business HONDA The first import company in Canada to sell over 100,000 cars a year.~ COME AND SEE US for the J Hottest Deals in Town. And having a strong parent company helps, says Strong. One of the reasons the Strongs went with the Speedy franchise, he says, is because of the support network available to new owners. ‘‘Turnover is very important in this business and you can‘t afford to have your equipment down for any length of time. The company has a toll free number to call where people working on exactly the same equipment can tell you over the phone what is wrong." Something else that attracted them, says Bill, is the company‘s policy of encouraging store owners to get involved in their communities and sponsoring several initiatives for owners to take part in. The American Speedy storés, for example, are giving school children free addressed envelopes to send letters to the troops in the Gulf. ‘"It‘s something we‘re considering," says Bill, "but, right now, the Canadians aren‘t as involved as the Americans so we‘re working on another project that is important to our community." The Strongs are working on a recycling program with local schools, says Bill, because a print shop generates huge volumes of scrap paper and envelopes that can be reused by school children instead of being thrown in the garbage. And the Strongs, mindful of the risk they took opening in a recession, are also doing something to help the unemployed. They, in cpt’undion with the Speedy Printing Centre in Kitchener, are offering free resume printing to area residents who are looking for work. _ _ _ : ht "The cost to us isn‘t tremendous, yet we help someone out who is having a difficult time finding employment. A resume is one of the most important things in a Job search and having one that is professionally done may just give someone that extra something they need." The Strongs will be holding their official grand opening of their business on Friday, March 22. smaictasies 2W Seea C