Jasmine Bullorini
11/18/2020 3:51 AM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 11/18/2020 5:00 AM
In a
hot session
and with the seal of Máximo Kirchner -ideological author of the project and promoter of its treatment-, the ruling party
gave half a sanction
this Wednesday at dawn to the Extraordinary Contribution to Large Fortunes, a new tax that
reaches people with assets greater than $ 200 million
, and that received strong criticism from business sectors and the field.
As it is a tax, although only once, the project needed a qualified majority to be approved.
That is, 129 affirmative votes of the 257 legislators in the lower house.
The initiative received
133 votes in favor, 115 negative and 2 abstentions
from the Left.
The ruling party had the almost full support of the two federal interblocks (with the exception of the Lavagnista Graciela Camaño).
Together for Change he rejected it, although
two Jujuy deputies who respond to the radical governor Gerardo Morales
decided to accompany the ruling party.
"It is not only about the pandemic but
also about the country that we receive,
" defended the Máximo Kirchner project - who closed the debate virtually - and pointed against the former president, Mauricio Macri.
"What discourages investment is not this project, it
is the bad governments,
" he said in response to criticism from the opposition.
The session was with some deputies in the room and others present in virtual form.
Photo Lucia Merle
After 11 p.m., Máximo Kirchner left the premises to isolate himself preventively because he was informed that he
had tested positive for coronavirus "a close contact"
, he confirmed in his speech.
The head of the Juntos por el Cambio interblock, Mario Negri, for his part, considered that the initiative "is
ineffective
even though it has a nice name and is epic."
And it marked a dichotomy within the ruling coalition: "The poor minister (of Economy (Martín Guzmán) has been sent to dress as a champion of adjustment and
here are the Robin Hoods
”.
In turn, he criticized the project.
“Here we do not pursue idle multimillion-dollar fortunes,
most of them are laburantes from here.
With the devaluation of our currency, what is a multimillionaire, the one with an SME? The one with five mechanized centers, each coming out a million dollars?
What if you have a dairy with 100 roof racks, a shed, a truck and a tractor?
And then we are going to look for the withholdings as well ”, he added.
Sergio Massa and Máximo Kirchner received Ministers Martín Guzmán, Matias Kulfas and Daniel Arroyo during the session.
An image to show unity.
To bury speculation about internal noise and ratify its support, the Alberto Fernández government sent the Economy Ministers, Martín Guzmán, to Congress late at night;
of Production, Matías Kulfas and of Social Development, Daniel Arroyo, who entered the premises and took a photo with Máximo and the president of the Chamber, Sergio Massa, at the door of his office.
The owner of ANSeS, the camper Luana Volnovich, and mayors of the Province also participated in the postcard.
The project, which was announced as soon as the pandemic began, took months to be presented, but finally last month it received an opinion from the Budget Commission.
With no date of treatment in sight, and with complaints from sectors of Kirchnerism -which warned of pressure within the ruling party itself to stop it, and pointed among them to Massa and Guzmán-, the head of the Frente de Todos, Máximo Kirchner,
he marked the court and requested a special session for his treatment.
The choice of the session date was not random: November 17,
when Peronism celebrates the Day of the Militant.
That is why a demonstration of support accompanied the debate from the door of Congress.
In discursive terms, the tax was defended as an "act of Justice and solidarity" to face the pandemic.
Sergio Massa was authorized to leave his isolation after a negative coronavirus test and presided over the second part of the session.
Photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
The debate took place in the first part chaired by PRO legislator Alvaro González, but late in the afternoon Massa left his isolation after a negative coronavirus test and appeared in Congress to lead a key session late at night for Kirchnerism.
The president of the Budget Committee of Deputies, Carlos Heller, was the drafter of the project and was in charge of defending it in the premises.
"
It is not intended against specific people, it is not a confrontation.
On the contrary, that is why we include the sense of solidarity and extraordinary. And it is for the only time," he said.
Along these lines, he assured that "
less than 10,000 people
will pay it
,
which is equivalent to 0.8% of taxpayers and 0.02% of the Argentine population."
"It is a fallacy that affects SMEs and production," he added, specifying that 252 of those 10,000 affected "would contribute 50% of the total."
The ruling party plans to raise
$ 307 billion.
Máximo Kirchner, manager of the wealth tax, closed the debate virtually: he left the premises due to the positive coronavirus from a close contact.
Photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
In Together for Change -which had spoken out against it from the beginning- they pointed out that it affects the principle of "non-confiscatory nature" and that of "reasonableness in taxation."
“It
operates as double taxation of the Personal Property tax
.
It is confiscatory because for the cases of people with assets abroad the aliquot reaches 7.5% of assets.
It is going to trigger an avalanche of lawsuits ”, affirmed Luciano Laspina (PRO).
"It is a very bad tax, badly designed from the point of view of the tax technique and it will only
expel investments from the country,
those that we Argentines need so much," added radical Luis Pastori.
The former Minister of Agriculture of Mauricio Macri, complained because he assured that the project
"assimilates a yacht or a Ferrari with a tractor
", while Jorge Enríquez, from the PRO, pointed out against "the story" and against Máximo and Heller: "It is a tax
promoted by a rich heir and a sensible banker "
, he sentenced.
Mario Negri, head of the Juntos por el Cambio interblock, was one of the most critical of the project.
Photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
Marcelo Cassaretto, from the FdT, counterattacked: “It is not what (Mauricio) Macri did at the beginning, which was to lower the tax on Personal Assets, lower the income tax, lower withholdings for the most powerful sectors of society.
That is not the only way to govern, we
have other values
, other principles, other concepts ”.
The Federal interblock led by Eduardo "Bali" Bucca accompanied as a whole, except for Graciela Camaño.
The Federal Unit and Equity interblock of Mendoza's José Luis Ramón also.
The left, for its part, abstained, because it has a more ambitious project on the subject and denounced an adjustment.
The funds collected
have specified effects
: 20% will be used for expenses for medicines and vaccines;
another 20% to provide loans and help to SMEs;
20% for the Progresar scholarship program;
15% for the fund to develop popular neighborhoods and another 25% to carry out works and equip YPF to produce and package GAS Natural.
LP