Amid the tension between the government and the provinces for the distribution of funds, the Contributions of the National Treasury (ATN) They have become the main axis of the dispute. The bracelet climbed this week with the half sanction in the Senate to a project promoted by all governors who seeks to modify the logic of assigning those resources.
What are the ATN?
The ATNs represent 1% of the co -participible mass that is collected by federal taxes. Its creation is automatic, but its distribution is discretionary: the national government decides how and when to turn them, with the aim of attending emergency provinces or with financial imbalances.
Currently, 42.34% of that is collected by federal taxes is in the hands of the National State, and 56.66% are automatically distributed between the provinces and the city of Buenos Aires according to the coefficients set in the 1988 Copartition Law. The remaining 1% forms the ATN Fund, without pre -established distribution criteria.
Since the assumption of Javier Milei, the fund has been notoriously uploaded: only 7% of the ATNs in 2024 were distributed, according to a Chaco Politikón report. In addition, eight districts – including CABA and Córdoba – did not receive transfers.
What does the bill propose?
The initiative promoted by the governors establishes that the distribution of the ATN is automatic, using the same co -participation percentages. In addition, it proposes to eliminate the trustees fed by the Liquid Fuel Tax, which would increase the provincial participation of current 10.4% to 58.36% of that collection.
Although the promoters of the project do not belong to the ruling party, several have acted as legislative allies of the government in other instances.
The background: tax adjustment and transfers cut
The tension responds to the strong fiscal adjustment implemented by the Government since the end of 2023. In this context, discretionary transfers to the provinces – including the attempted drastically.
The contrast is clear: in 2023 $ 173,000 million were rotated in ATN, while in 2024 only $ 49,800 million were sent, and so far from 2025, just $ 84,000 million.
Government’s position
The ruling rejects the project because it considers that it puts at risk its objective of achieving fiscal balance. Although the resources of the ATN Fund cannot be used for other purposes, its non -execution reduces public spending and improves the fiscal result, which reinforces the austerity policy of the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo.
What would be the fiscal impact?
According to the governors, the cost of the project would be marginal: only 0.11 points of the GDP, which would carry the primary fiscal surplus of 1.60% projected by the government to 1.49%. This number is still above the 1.30% target agreed with the IMF by 2025.
Other estimates, such as the Mediterranean Foundation, calculate an even lower impact: 0.05 points of the product.
Source: Ambito
