The campaign for Sunday's presidential election has centred on personalities and peccadillos, with scarcely any discussion of the main issue: how much longer can Costa Rica afford to be different? Standing out from its impoverished neighbours in the turbulent Central American isthmus, Costa Rica has been a small haven of egalitarian, democratic tranquillity since a 1948-49 revolution which abolished the army, assigned the defence budget to education, and created a powerful, paternalist state. Though not a rich country, life expectancy in Costa Rica (at nearly 77 years) is not only the highest in Latin America but higher than Denmark's. After defaulting on its debt in 1982, Costa Rica began cautious free-market reforms. But the issue facing the country now is how to sustain a European-style welfare state on a Latin American tax base. Tax revenues total just 12% of GDP, while public debt has grown to almost $9 billion, or 55% of GDP. "We spend like we're rich but pay taxes like paupers," says Eduardo Lizano, the president of the central bank. "It has to end soon but it will be painful."
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