The Supreme Court of Justice ruled in favor of Disa, as it did two months ago for Ducsa, against the Municipality of Montevideo.
The Municipality of Montevideo lost again against the oil companies that filed an appeal for unconstitutionality against the Flammables Rate, this time it was the turn of the Industrial Distributor of American Suppliers Montevideo (DISA Uruguay)the second after the ruling in favor of the Uruguayan Fuel Distributor (Ducsa) in June.
The Supreme Court of Justice sentenced last week a ruling in favor of Disa in relation to the appeal filed by the company that referred to the unconstitutionality of the Flammables Rate of the Municipality of Montevideo which has been in force for more than sixty years. The ruling handed down to Ducsa in June served as a precedent for the decision of the Supreme Court.
the first case
Ducsa won, in mid-June, the opportunity to carry out a historic lawsuit against the Municipality of Montevideo for 50 million dollars. The company owned by National Administration of Fuel, Alcohol and Portland (Ancap) argued that the IM lacks constitutional power to create a tax. In turn, Ducsa pointed out that, in each distribution situation, Ancap as withholding agent withholds the amount corresponding to the contested municipal rate, paying it to the departmental government of Montevideo.
In this sense, the company considered that the tax on flammables did not have an effective divisible and measurable service from the IM to the taxpayers of said tax. In addition, it does not establish the destination of the money collected and does not address the needs of the alleged security control service for vehicles that transport flammable products.
In the lawsuit, Ducsa also insisted that the rate generates an important distinction and that it burdens the owners or senders of flammable products with the 1% of the sale pricebut “does not tax” other subjects who transport and sell other similar products.
Rematch?
After the first ruling of the Supreme Court, the Intendancy of Montevideo presented a project to replace the Vehicle Safety and Circulation Controller Fee that Transport Flammable Products for a tribute of 0.5% of the value of the transported goods, calculated based on the number of liters for the sale price of what is transported.
However, the administration led by Caroline Cosse He decided to back down with the project since it generated great commotions within the political arc, even reaching the president, Luis Lacalle Pou, who assured that he would challenge the project in case it advances in the chambers. For this reason, the mayor announced that she would reverse the project at the beginning of this month.
Source: Ambito
