MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina emergency bill in Congress: 30% tax on dollar purchases and six month freeze on public utilities rates
Argentina's new government announced on Tuesday a 30% tax on foreign currency purchases and a six-month freeze on public utility prices as part of a raft of measures to boost growth. The government of President Alberto Fernandez, who took office last week, had already announced increases in taxes on agricultural exports over the weekend. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesWell here they go again! Going back to where they came from; economic disaster!
Dec 19th, 2019 - 03:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Latin-American left always has to undo the mess that the neolibs made.
Dec 19th, 2019 - 11:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Going back”? You don't really watch the news, do you, roray? This is on Macri's disastrous economics of austerity.
Dec 19th, 2019 - 11:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Argentine economy is in recession and the best idea for the new government is to raise taxes !!! .... yes, yes, yes, yes, you are reading well, there is no money nor “the streets” neither in “the pocket of people” .... so, taxes must go up !!! Can you belive this??
Dec 20th, 2019 - 06:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0There will be more taxes to be paid for all “mid-class” people. No increase at all for retired people that collect more than 19,000 pesos (this is U$D 300) during the next half a year. Taxes for those who buy dollars to protect savings (you cannot buy more than U$D 200), taxes for mid level brand new cars, personal taxes increase.......and more inflation.
Failure guarrantized !!!
That's it; Alberto's omnibus bill is law now, after lawmakers from both legislative bodies approved it on Friday.
Dec 21st, 2019 - 04:31 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Of course, German is in disarray. He subscribes to the theory that, instead of increasing the wages of the destitute, what's needed is to lower the taxes paid by the wealthy -- eventually, the reasoning is, the wealthy will create more jobs and that way the benefits will “trickle down” to those at the bottom of the scale. In the real world, this has never happened. The wealthy take their money to offshore accounts and use it to speculate -- so trickle down never happens. Former (happily former) president Mauricio Macri did something similar; as soon as he was sworn-in, he eliminated most export taxes and reduced others, granting large producers and agribusiness a larger share of the pie.
Just 10 days after taking office, president Alberto Fernandez goes in the opposite direction: he seeks to raise the lower pensions and wages and implements emergency measures to help the poor and reduce hunger and malnutrition. The poor are now over 40 per cent in Argentina.
Fernandez has also announced the end of pension of privilege currently being paid to members of the judiciary and diplomats.
Of course, those benefiting from the former status quo are desperate, and members of the now Macrist opposition attempted to stop the bill from being debated and voted.
Fascinating times in Argentina.
The left has created this mess! Soon the Peso will be 90 per dollar!
Dec 21st, 2019 - 06:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0roray
Dec 22nd, 2019 - 05:55 am - Link - Report abuse -1Are you sure?
Let's see.
Former president Macri took office Dec. 10, 2015. One US dollar: 9.73 ARS.
On Dec. 10, 2019, president Fernandez was sworn in. One US dollar: 59.74 ARS.
So...you were saying what?
Pray for the Argentines maybe some of them can escape like the Venezuelans have.
Dec 22nd, 2019 - 06:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0What??? We have a change in government and simultaneously a whole new batch of commentators? Decidedly, politics is a complex business.
Dec 22nd, 2019 - 06:17 am - Link - Report abuse -1Anyway. Hey, Rico! (Aldo?).
Any thoughts for the poor, repressed Chileans and Bolivians?
Argentines need to look for alternative stores of wealth. Things that can be sold or traded in the event of the complete breakdown of society.
Dec 22nd, 2019 - 06:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0Precious metals would be good but think about alternatives - Tobacco, medications, ammunition, water purification tablets, salt, soap, noodles, toilet paper. Anything that there might be a shortage of in a post apocalypse society.
I was just in Buenos Aires and I met more Venezuelans than Portenos where will they go next as Argentina is becoming as bad as Venezuela?
Dec 22nd, 2019 - 02:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0RR
Dec 28th, 2019 - 01:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0Don't worry about it. Argentina has a tradition to greet well people from other countries. During the CFK government, the government put in place a program to attract scientists who had gone to other countries. Many came back. The Macri government, instead, reduced the budget for R&D, prompting a new exodus.
According to the main lines of Alberto Fernandez' government program, it won't take long for expatriated well qualified Argentines to start coming back.
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