Reduction of the PAIS tax: supermarket owners downplay the impact on shelves

The reduction of the COUNTRY TAX from 17.5% to 7.5%, returning to the levels it had in December 2023. The entrepreneurs in the sector They had been complaining for years about the tax pressure and the Ministry of Economy granted them a first step in that direction. But not before making a formal request: that the price drops are seen on the shelves.

The Treasury left no room for doubt, neither to the market nor to the real economy: the intention is to lower inflation, which is facing resistance at 4%, to a level of 2%, in line with the “crawling peg”. To do this, it began to alleviate the tax burden and warns that this will not be the only measure on the table: another is to lower tariffs on basic inputs.

Last week, the Secretary of Commerce in charge of Pablo Lavigne received representatives of the major supermarkets, where the issue of prices, transparency and taxes was raised. But the Government encountered some resistance: for supermarket owners, the impact of the PAIS Tax is not linked to them but to other links in the chain and in response to the Government’s request, the quick response was: “you have to see”. For the sector, this first announcement in the sense of freeing the tax burden will help to keep prices from rising, but not necessarily to lower them.

“As far as the gondola is concerned, which is mass consumption, It may have an impact on the price of tuna, bananas and some other products, and then on what the chains import directly, but the main impact of the PAIS Tax is on inputs.”said sources from ASU (Association of United Supermarkets).

“The price improvement is something that fundamentally affects the industry, due to the incidence of the country tax on imported inputs and on many of the products brought in by multinationals made in other places. Products directly imported by supermarket chains, In mass consumption there are very few, tuna, bananas, some own brand coffee and very little in cookies. And then in electronics, bazaar and imported textiles.. In any case, the message is that it is to improve prices and not to improve margins The industry that supplies us has to receive it and it has already received it, we will see how it responds,” they explained.

Other Chamber of Supermarkets that was present at the meeting, in dialogue with Scopealso added that among the topics discussed in the Secretariat of Commerce was put back on the table the table the tax pressure, although they celebrated this first step. In addition, fiscal transparency was included in the ticket, one of the issues that installed by supermarket owners in the last few hours in reference to municipal taxes that impact the price.

With inflation in sight

During the last week of August, food prices showed a notable acceleration. The consulting firms LCG and EcoGo recorded an increase in food inflation. LCG reported that the rise accelerated by one percentage point, going from 0.3% to 1.3%. In addition, the measurement of the last four weeks showed a average increase of 2.9%.

EcoGo estimated that in the fourth week of August, food had an increase of 0.8%, which marked a slight acceleration compared to the previous week. With a projected increase of 0.6% for the last week, inflation for food consumed at home rose to 3.7% in August.

Finally, the Analytica consulting firm There was also a weekly variation of 0.7% in food and beverage prices and the four-week average was 2.8%.

The Most consulting firms They estimate that inflation returned to around 4% in August, a threshold that the Ministry of Economy recognizes will be difficult to break. All this in the context of a month in which there was practically no volatility in the financial exchange rate, despite market doubts regarding reserves. A first step is to lower the PAIS tax, but will it be enough?