The senator of National Party (PN), Jorge Gandiniproposed that the exoneration of the Internal Specific Tax (imesi) in water drums of more than 5 liters after the end of the water emergency in Montevideo and the metropolitan area.
After the government decreed this week the end of the water emergency, Imesi and the Value Added Tax (VAT) returned to taxing bottled water.
According to the nationalist legislator, the Imesi should only tax luxury goods, such as alcohol or cigarettes, but not table water, since it is a good for family consumption.
“Bottled water has two taxes, VAT, like any product, and the Imesi”, said the white senator in dialogue with Telemundo, adding that “the Imesi is a tax that taxes luxury goods, taxes cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, vehicles, fuel”.
“It does not seem to make sense to tax bottled water in more than 5 liters,” he stressed. “Probably, one can say that a half-liter or 600 cc bottle is luxury, but the 5 or 6-liter can is for family consumption, it has been incorporated a lot into family spending,” Gandini commented.
The nationalist legislator was critical in this regard and assured that “we should avoid moving the Imesi in this type of packaging”, and that he raised the concern, although not formally for the moment.
What will bottled water prices look like without the exemptions?
In Montevideo and its metropolitan area, the 6.25-liter Salus water can could rise from an average of 89.1 pesos in the last week to the price before the exemption, which was 131.5 pesos.
For its part, the 6.25-liter Nativa water can was sold in the last week at an average of 84.2 pesos, and now it could jump to its values prior to the declaration of the water emergency, where it was around 115, 9 pesos.
Source: Ambito
