MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Bases Law enacted as a prelude to the so-called “May Pact”

Argentine President Javier Milei enacted this weekend the most encompassing Bases Law granting the Government most of the tools it claims to need to rescue the country from her plight as the Libertarian Administration fine-tuned the last details for the so-called “May Pact” to be signd in Tucumán on the Eve of the Independence Day celebrations.

 The new measure numbered 27742 and the Fiscal Package 27743 appeared in Monday's edition of the Official Gazette, it was also reported in Buenos Aires.

Law 27742, titled the “Law of Bases of the Financial Administration System of the National Public Sector” grants powers to the Executive while providing for a broad reform of the State through the redesigning of some areas and the suppression of others in addition to changing previous regulations in a move to deregulate the economy while introducing a labor reform and implementing the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI).

Milei's Government argues that these regulations seek to “guarantee transparency, efficiency and responsibility in the management of public resources.”

The Bases Law was approved in the Lower House with 147 votes, 107 against and 2 abstentions after the chapters contatining the privatizations of Aerolíneas Argentinas, RTA (Radio y Televisión Argentina) and the Post Office were erased.

The fiscal package, or “Palliative and relevant fiscal measures”, provides for the reinstatement of the income tax for some 800,000 workers, coupled with a reduction to the personal assets, among other topics.

The Libertarian Administration claims these changes will help “strengthen the tax system and ensure a more equitable distribution of the tax burden, in addition to promoting investment and economic growth.”

The measure also provides for the creation of a “Fiscal Stabilization Fund” to “mitigate the effects of economic volatility and guarantee long-term fiscal sustainability.”

The May Pact is to be signed on Monday at midnight in San Miguel de Tucumán, where the Declaration of Independence was made on July 9, 1816.