The provincial municipal leaders are following the debate with greater relief, although they are concerned about the nation’s advance on the autonomy of the municipalities, guaranteed in the Constitution.
The resolution of the Government The proposal to prohibit municipalities from including the collection of local taxes on water, gas and electricity bills has generated a rapid reaction against mayors of Greater Buenos Aires who will file a legal action in the next few hours. The main questioning will focus on the attempt of the Nation to advance on municipal autonomy, something that is enshrined in the National Constitution of 1994.
Decree 267/2024, of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce which was published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, states that “the information related to the concepts contained in the receipts issued by suppliers of goods and services within the framework of consumer relations, as referred to in Article 3 of Law No. 24,240 and its amendments, must refer solely and exclusively to the good or service specifically contracted by the consumer and supplied by the supplier.”
In dialogue with Scopehe Mayor of the municipality of Esteban Acheverría, Fernando Graypointed out that one of the pillars of his administration is to keep rates low and that companies that settle in his municipality are exempt from paying them for ten years. “There are rates that we do not charge, such as road or fuel taxes, but what worries us most is the attempt to advance on municipal autonomy,” he said. “The Nation has the right to collect taxes, the provinces do too, and for the municipalities it is a right to charge a rate for a service effectively provided, it is established by the Constitution, that is the underlying issue that worries us the most,” he concluded.
Along the same lines, the Municipal Chief of Tigre, Julio Zamoraposted his opinion on X, in relation to the decision that the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, communicated on the same social network. “The 1994 Constitution enshrines the municipal autonomies and there is no resolution from any minister that can modify a constitutional norm. There is no case… Inflation continues to give 4… And it is not because of the municipalities… It is because the devaluation, the dollarization of gasoline and the increase in rates hit the majority of our population hard. It is not the municipalities… It is the adjustment against workers and retirees,” he said.
Two mayors from the suburbs, with whom this media also contacted, confirmed that several municipal leaders, most of them of Peronist extraction, will carry out a meeting in the next few hours Legal presentation against the Casa Rosada measure“It is our duty to react as soon as possible because what the nation is seeking is to defund the municipalities, not to mention that funds for health and public works have already been cut,” said one of them.
Scope He also consulted members of the League of Mayors, which brings together heads of provincial capitals and important cities, recently created and which gained relevance for its claims against the cuts made by the Nation to subsidies for public transport, about Caputo’s decision. Sources from two mayors’ offices confirmed that in the last few hours there were contacts between the representatives but the questions regarding the collection of fees remain unconcerned. “They are charged for services rendered and everyone makes that payment, so there is not much to question there, much less that the Nation tries to give its opinion on it, it is not its place,” it was indicated. But like some of their peers from Buenos Aires, they are concerned that the national State tries to interfere in the autonomy of the municipalities.
One of the most acidic in X against the decision of the Minister of Economy was Francisco Echarren, municipal chief of the city of Castelli. “If you are consistent, you should stop compulsorily collecting and withholding VAT, profits and all taxes charged by the national state. Make whoever wants to pay them, without mandatory withholdings. You are playing the libertarian with other people’s property,” he said.
Since in recent days Caputo himself had hinted that a decision by the Government on the issue of municipal taxes was imminent, it was learned that last Monday night – hours before the official announcement by the minister – a group of mayors of the Third Section met in Almirante Brown where possible scenarios were analyzed. In addition to the local mayor, Mariano Cascallares, there were Andrés Watson (Florencio Varela), Julián Álvarez (Lanús), Gastón Granados (Ezeiza), Marisa Fassi (Cañuelas) Federico Otermín (Lomas de Zamora), Fernando Raitelli (Brandsen) and Nicolás Mantegazza (San Vicente).
Source: Ambito
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