Chilean MPs on Tuesday rejected the article of a bill that provided for a tax on large fortunes intended to finance an emergency basic income to mitigate the economic devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The initiative was part of a general bill aimed at addressing the economic crisis facing the country, which recorded a 5.8% drop in GDP in 2020, the worst performance in the world. Chilean economy since 1982.
Read also: Chile votes to have a new Constitution
The general bill, proposed by the center-left opposition, has been approved and has yet to be validated by the Senate, but the article aiming to introduce an exceptional tax on large fortunes above $ 22 million (18 million euros) was rejected by 79 votes against, 47 for and 10 abstentions.
"The right continues to defend its financiers and rejects the #TaxSurlesSuperRiches," protested
Communist MP Camila Vallejo, author of the article, on her Twitter account. MEPs, however, approved a reduction from 19% to 10% of the value added tax (VAT) on certain basic products such as fuel, food or sanitary products.
VAT was lowered to 4% for bread, eggs, milk or fruit and vegetables.
“I regret the heartfelt rejection of the wealth tax project and the end of the exemptions to finance #Revenudebasedurgence; only the differentiated VAT on basic products has been approved, ”
Christian Democrat MP Matias Walker said on his social networks. Neighboring Argentina, for its part, approved in December a law instituting an extraordinary tax on large fortunes supposed to fight against the coronavirus epidemic and which made it possible to collect at the beginning of May 2.25 billion dollars (1.97 billion euros).
This
"solidarity contribution"
, approved in December by the two chambers of Parliament, institutes a levy of 2% of the assets of individuals exceeding 200 million pesos (about two million dollars), to be paid once.
