According to the data of the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP), in January the tax recorded an increase in collection of 1,252% compared to January 2023.
Several factors influenced the relative consolidation of this new source of resources. One of them is the increase in the rate, and the other the devaluation.
And all of this, in turn, triggered a strong fight from President Javier Milei with the governors of the provinces about the way in which their produce is distributed.
Until now, if there is no change, the COUNTRY tax is a specific assignment. He 70% remains in ANSES and PAMI and 30% goes to a trust fund to carry out works in the provinces.
What does the tax consist of? Is a rate charged to all official dollar sales operations that are made in the local market. At first it was only for the purchase of tickets for hoarding and for the payment of services abroad, and now it is almost everything. That is When a company requests the BCRA to sell dollars to import, it is also paying the tax.
Record collection
AFIP reported on Thursday that the COUNTRY Tax collected $469,199 million in January with an annual variation of 1,252.6%.
The higher income is favorably influenced by “the expansion of its tax base with the income of the payment applied to certain imports.”
“At the same time, they increased compared to previous months, due to the increase in the exchange rate, and the increase in the rates of both the payment on account as well as imports of goods and freight compared to those in force in the previous month,” indicates the agency.
He Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis (IARAF) noted in its latest report that “after the sharp increase in the tax burden of the COUNTRY tax at the end of July, when began to tax the purchase of some imported goods and services at a rate of 7.5%, tax collection skyrocketed.”
“In August 2023 increased by 187% in real terms compared to the previous month. Days before the inauguration of new government, the rate on imported goods and services rose to 17.5%. As a result, tax collection in January rose 25.4% in real terms compared to the month of December and it is located at a real maximum,” states the report.
COUNTRY Tax: the fight with the governors
The dispute with the governors of the provinces over the new star tax has its origins the claim for compensation for changes in Income Tax that the governors themselves endorsed in 2023, so that 99% of the workers who paid would stop doing so.
The governors They had agreed with the former Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, to share the Check Tax, something that was rejected by Milei. After that she thought about him COUNTRY tax.
In the chain of interdicts, an element to take into account is that In the omnibus law package, Milei requests to modify the specific allocation to keep 100% of the funds. This opens a new focus of conflict with the governors who They do not want to lose 30% of the resources for works.
But in addition to that, The idea that began to circulate is to make it a co-participatory tax. That would imply that its product would be automatic transfer and that 56% would be distributed to the provinces. But in that case, those who would lose would be the retirees, who today receive 70% of the tax.
When asked about the point, Deputy Ricardo López Murphy considered that the COUNTRY Tax “has to be removed” because he considers it distortive.
Source: Ambito
