Economist specialized in Economic Development, Strategic Marketing and International Markets. Professor at the University of Belgrano. Member of the Liberal Network of Latin America (RELIAL) and Member of the Institute of Ethics and Political Economy of the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.
LA GACETA DE TUCUMÁN – Fernández seeks the support of the governors in the middle of the bid with Rodríguez Larreta. They won’t lower taxes.
There are three issues that explain the summit of President Alberto Fernández with the governors of the provinces, within the framework of the 2020 version of the Fiscal Consensus that will be signed today at Casa Rosada.
• The financial relationship, which requires a kind of armor to avoid falls in national and provincial collections. Hence, one of the fundamental aspects of the new agreement is the suspension of the obligations regarding exemptions and maximum aliquot scales contemplated for the fiscal periods 2020 and 2021 for the Tax on Gross Income and the provisions of Real Estate Taxes, to the Stamps, those that tax the payroll and specific taxes. In other words, don’t lower taxes.
• The strictly legal issue. The open litigation between the Nation and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) for the withdrawal of co-participation funds opened a front of conflict that will lead to discussions in courts. The head of the Buenos Aires government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, will not go to today’s summit, but the national government wants the support of the rest of the leaders to avoid legal conflicts. The governors, in this regard, must “abstain for a period of one year from initiating legal proceedings, and suspend for the same term those already initiated, relating to the Co-participation regime, to specific allocation of resources and transfers of powers, services or functions, with the exception of those that have a final judgment ”, says the text of the agreement that will be signed today in Buenos Aires.
• The central fact of the meeting involves the family photo: the political support of the governors for Fernández’s administration. In a year marked by the covid-19 pandemic and amidst internal and external questioning of the management, the President tries to close 2020 with the support of the provincial leaders. Today’s summit can also mark a signal towards Rodríguez Larreta with the assistance of three other governors not related to the PJ: Gerardo Morales (Jujuy), Rodolfo Suárez (Mendoza) and Gustavo Valdés (Corrientes). But the photograph will not be complete. The Santa Fe Omar Perotti had to get out of the call, since he tested positive for Covid, while the Cordovan Juan Schiaretti and the Santa Cruz Alicia Kirchner will not be from the game either. Furthermore, Juan Manzur from Tucumán had to change the schedule of activities and, for that reason, he suspended the visit to Tucumán by the Minister of Public Works of the Nation, Gabriel Katopodis. It will be rescheduled for the end of next week, as officially reported.
Tax harmonization What was previously a desire is now a necessity. The previous tax conventions provided the guidelines for tax harmonization throughout the country, in such a way as to improve the collection system and, at the same time, simplify the procedures for taxpayers. Today, the national and provincial governments need to take care of the box, especially in a year of financial needs and mid-term elections.
Faced with this situation, the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) will make available tools that help all the provincial collection agencies to validate the identification code numbers (CUIT / CUIL / CDI). Likewise, the data of the taxpayers will be collated in such a way as to establish, for example, the ownership of real estate and other registrable assets. The provinces, in turn, will send once a year to the AFIP the information on the ownership of real estate and other registrable assets and their valuation, with a cutoff of December 31 of each year. Likewise, says the new Fiscal Consensus, the provincial jurisdictions ratify their will to advance with the AFIP in the consolidation of actions that reduce and simplify the necessary procedures to ensure tax compliance by taxpayers at the national, provincial and municipal levels in the framework of current fiscal federalism.
Far from lowering the tax burden throughout the country, as was intended in the agreement signed in 2017 and suspended this year due to the pandemic, so far in 2020 18 new taxes and greater taxpayers have been announced, according to the analysis carried out by the director General of the Fundación Libertad y Progreso, Agustín Etchebarne. Only this year, according to this analysis, was the PAIS Tax created; Personal Assets and labor costs rose; Corporate income and check tax; withholdings on exports; adjustment for inflation (went from being quarterly to being semi-annual); perception of earnings on the purchase of dollars; Wealth Tax and Wind Tax.
As of 2021, we can expect the rise on Internal Taxes to electronics; Teacher Incentive Fund; A raise on the tax on online gambling; Tax on auto insurance premiums; Tax on insurance premiums for fire management; Tax on Credit Cards (CABA); Suspension of the exemption of Gross Income for Passes and Leliq (CABA) and adjustment for inflation of the ABL (CABA).
The political struggle between Alberto Fernández and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta is not only evident in the institutional sphere, but also in the perception of the political image. According to CB Consultant of Public Opinion, the mayor of Buenos Aires is the second subnational president with the best image, behind Sergio Uñac from San Juan (in that poll, Manzur appears in 11th place out of 24 governors). “In this bid, the President gets the best part because, generally, in the provinces they observe that CABA always had privileges when it came to distributing funds,” Cristian Buttie, head of the consulting firm, tells LA GACETA.
According to the political analyst, everyone is interested in ending the year with a good management image, beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Particularly, to the national head of state who will plebiscite his administration in October 2021. “On the governor’s side, a high image in public consideration can mean a certain autonomy for the assembly of the lists for the legislative ones. On the contrary, if that image is low, the influence of the Casa Rosada will be profound in putting together those lists of candidates, ”says Buttie.
