The new rate in river tourism defined by the government in the middle of this month generated controversy between tourism associations and shipping companies in the Uruguay; Faced with this, the Minister of Tourism, Tabare Viera, admitted that this tax affects the tourism.
Last week, both Bus as Cologne Express have filed separate appeals in court to annul what they consider a compulsory tax that increases the value of tickets starting next May for arrivals to and departures from Uruguay.
For its part, the Cologne Tourist Association submitted a letter to Executive power in rejection of the new service price, while they warn that it will mean a negative impact on tourist activity in the department that already has profitability problems.
Tourism admitted the new river tax affects the sector
Faced with criticism, the Minister of Tourism admitted, in dialogue with El Observador, that the tax “without a doubt it affects and impacts in tourism.” Meanwhile, he assured that the decision on the new tax is beyond the Tourism portfolio.
“It’s a decision that was made by Executive power based on a need to finance a new border control system that is imperative,” he explained. On the other hand, he assured that the ministry is waiting to see how the ministers who intervened in the decree analyze the consequences it could have. in the tourism sector the new rate.
Meanwhile, two weeks ago, the Undersecretary of Tourism, Remo Monzeglio, He assured in a conversation with Channel 10 that “it does not seem exaggerated to add 2 dollars to add a better and more modern service.” The leader indicated that “the world is changing and many countries are applying this type of measures because there is a increase in costs in a framework where the tourism massive, predator, is back.”
The reasons for Buquebus and Colonia Express
The legal representative of Buquebus, Daniel Ochs, explained to Ámbito that the company has three challenges. “All three refer to legal norms, but beyond that they also refer to large political agreements, reasonable within a liberal democracy,” he pointed out.
Specifically, the company of the Argentine-Uruguayan businessman Juan Carlos López Menaunderstands that the government of Luis Lacalle Pou affected the principle of legality by creating an obligation by decree and not by law as established in article 10 of the Constitution, in addition to not respecting the principle of equality of public charges, since all immigration control posts in the country will be financed with the tax on river tourism.
“The only way to support this decision is for them to say that river transport companies have greater tax capacity, but here it is the other way around,” explained Ochs and gave a clear example: “the person who flies in business class to Spain does not pay it.” , but the one that enters through the port of Colonia does, despite the fact that both must undergo immigration control.”
The third point that Buquebus questions is the one that Ochs described as “shocking”: the Ministry of Interior admitted not having evaluated the cost of awarding the new immigration control system. “The State allows a company to collect it, but it does not know how much it costs,” he said.
“In a healthy democracy, the parties involved must be consulted,” concluded Orchs, who explained that the government has not yet responded to the challenge to the tender even though the legal time to do so is about to expire.
The Cologne Tourist Association is also against
The new tax on river tourism was also questioned by the Colonia Tourist Association, which asked the Executive to leave it without effect due to the impact it is expected to have on the number of visitors arriving to that department from Argentina, at a time when tourist activity is resentful of the economic crisis in the neighboring country.
Andrés Castellano, president of the association, said in dialogue with Ámbito that “this is a negative situation for Cologne because it is where the cost of the ticket has the most impact: our destination is the destination with the shortest stay in hours of a tourist in Uruguay and we have a very large number of visitors on the day. The impact of $2.10 plus VAT within, let’s say, a budget of $5,000 is not the same in Punta del Este or on a cruise than on a ticket where this impact is an average of around 10% of the annualized ticket.”
What is the tax about?
The decree signed two weeks ago establishes that “international maritime or river passenger transport companies that operate in any of the ports will be responsible for collecting the Price per Security Service to each of its passengers”.
In total, the value will be 2.56 dollars, according to the text that bears the president’s signature Luis Lacalle Pou. The new system is expected to come into effect in May, thereby the new rate would begin to take effect from that month and would affect the next season of cruise ships.
The amount will be charged when the tickets are issued and the companies will become retention agents of the amounts. In the case of passengers cruise ships who enter or leave the country, the collection and retention of the fee will be the responsibility of the maritime agency to which the vessel is consigned.
The monthly collection of the fee carried out by the corresponding maritime and river agencies will be retained by them and then “discharged in arrears to the provider of the border control system awarded within the framework of the aforementioned International Public Tender No. 19/2022”.
In turn, the National Immigration Directorate was authorized to charge passengers up to a maximum of 3% plus VAT, “for the purposes of covering the administrative costs of companies that act as withholding agents, and may authorize them to receive said sum directly from them.” All these obligations will come into force once the border control system is operational.
Source: Ambito
