On Wednesday, as tension built up in Congress, Interior Minister
Guillermo Francos
anticipated what was already an open secret among the governors: the Government will convene the provincial leaders to negotiate
a new fiscal pact
.
The provincial executives - with Martín Llaryora from Córdoba at the head - insist on including in the
vote in particular
the omnibus law - which has already been approved in general - the co-participation of the
Country tax
.
The President sent his emissaries to meet with Francos, but there was no agreement and when it appears there won't be one either.
At Javier Milei's very small table - where the Minister of the Interior does not have a seat - they are categorical.
“This tax will not be shared regardless of what someone tries,” they ruled on the tax on the use of foreign currency created in 2019, which became the third most important tax that the national State has.
In other words, at the apex of libertarian power they rule out tax sharing.
In January, as a result of the devaluation and tax changes, the collection for this tax jumped 1,252% and reached 469,199 million pesos.
But what would happen if the governors and the rest of the opposition gathered votes to share the tax?
In that case, Milei could reserve the power to
veto that article
.
In some of the most important offices of the Casa Rosada
they are betting on the path of confrontation
, the same one that made the dialogue opposition to whom Milei finally thanked, minutes after the general project was approved in Deputies, doubt.
“
The governors are going to have to lower spending
,” reiterate some of the officials that the President listens to the most regarding the fiscal consensus that the Executive wants to sign.
Some of the governors of productive provinces of JxC who promoted the
meeting with Francos on Monday
at the Federal Investment Council (CFI) and contributed votes for the general approval of the Omnibus Law question the strategy of the ruling party.
“They cannot ask them to reduce expenses without giving something to the provinces.
Until now the adjustment is paid by the provinces and non-co-participatory taxes increase
,” they warn.
A Milei Cabinet minister relativizes the discussion over the tax on foreign currency, since it has an increasingly close death date after the IMF reiterated the need to
accelerate the exit from the exchange rate
.
This Saturday Francos whitewashed the position of Milei and the Government.
The President does not want to share in this tax
(…) The governors demand resources for their provinces and the Nation, resources for the Nation in this crisis scenario,” said
Daniel Scioli's new boss
in dialogue with Mitre.
The head of the bloc of the Federal Coalition,
Miguel Angel Pichetto
, during his closing speech in Friday's session, warned the Government that it must send a Budget bill to Congress as soon as possible to avoid dealing with the undervalued values of the fiscal year 2023 and to limit the expansion of items by decree.
Very close to the President, they flatly discard the public suggestion of Mauricio Macri's former vice candidate in 2019. “
We are going to work with the extension of the 2023 Budget
,” they say.
Some governors do not trust Francos' efforts, because many of the commitments they try to make fail when the minister transmits them in Casa Rosada.
“We told the governors that, once the project was approved, we were going to meet with them to generate a
new pact on shared resources
,” Francos highlighted this week.
Within that lot is the
reversal of the Income Tax
, whose last modification - accompanied by the Peronist governors in the middle of the campaign at the request of Sergio Massa and the then deputy Milei, among others - defunded the provinces. .
Also included are the taxes that appeared in the fiscal chapter of the law that Luis Caputo lowered:
personal assets
(which are shared) and withholdings (which are not shared).
The governors of Entre Ríos, Córdoba and Santa Fe, above all, resist the increase in taxes on exports because they resent the producers of their districts and do not leave benefits in the provincial coffers.
Money laundering and the Nation's trust funds are also on the table.
The governor of Entre Ríos and former Minister of the Interior of Mauricio Macri,
Rogelio Frigerio
, had to explain his scope to some of his debutant colleagues during the meeting with Francos.
The discussion over resources divides the governors.
Llaryora wants to speed up the sharing of the Country tax.
JxC provincial leaders prefer to wait.
“We have to get this law out quickly and
make excuses for the Government
to start managing,” said a PRO provincial leader.
In the party founded by Macri they warn that the same thing could happen to Milei as it did to them.
They do not forget that during the Cambiemos administration,
a fiscal pact was negotiated in 2017
that increased co-participation, but forced the provinces to
reduce the collection of provincial taxes
such as Gross Income (IIBB).
A year later, in the middle of the crisis, Macri had to make concessions.
Alberto Fernández suspended those agreements in 2020 and sealed two new fiscal pacts in 2021 and 2022, with the green light for provincial tax increases.
Today several of those governors - with crucial votes in the Senate for what is to come - continue to lead their provinces.