For the Romans, laws had letter and spirit. This duality in the morphology of law is so central that it was the title of Montesquieu's iconic book: it is in The Spirit of Laws where he develops two founding concepts of modern political science, the division of power and democratic representation.
The spirit of a law has to do with the intended purpose, but especially with its moral dimension. For those who say that the only thing that matters is what is written (and reach the draconian absurdity of dura lex sed lex), it is worth reflecting on two facts linked to the Bases Law.
The first is related to the laundering proposed by the project, and a declaration that the origin of the funds or the amount does not matter. It is true that Argentines have billions in their mattress or abroad; reasons that range from a tax pressure that exceeds any Laffer curve, to rogues full of vain excuses to justify evasion.
In the midst of a security crisis with roots in drug trafficking like the one faced by the city of Rosario and many other border cities, that statement is simply immoral, but above all dangerous. It seems like an invitation to the worst use that can be given to this tool, the one that all international organizations dedicated to money laundering point out as its greatest risk.
The second is the surprising exclusion of the bill from regulating the tobacco industry. This is a discussion that has been going on for a long time, but with a very specific consequence: a company that had a tiny portion of the market, began to have a capital letter based on a controversial strategy that allowed it not to pay taxes.
To be clearer, procedural tricks that had the inexplicable consent of judges, plus a lack of control by administrative authorities for years that facilitated tax returns of lower value than the real one, gave rise to an advantage in their costs that has been the main reason for its success over the competition. What was initially intended to be resolved with the law was eliminated. The reasons are still unclear; What is clear is that many pilate and no one takes charge.
The Bases bill has good content, beyond criticism of its structure and hermeneutics. It consists of three axes that are essential for the regime change proposed by the government: legislative delegation and emergency, to expand its radius of action; administrative reform, new competition defense law and regime for productive investment, as a legal framework for a new economy; and a fiscal chapter, with money laundering and a moratorium, to alleviate public finances.
Now, everything good loses credibility when it is affected by facts of moral gravity. That is when everything comes under suspicion, when the spirit of the law and not its letter takes on its full dimension: it is not only what is written that matters, but also what is sought and what is left out. There is a lot new in politics, but there are things that unfortunately seem to repeat themselves. If you pay attention, perhaps that is the root of our woes.
Bernardo Saravia Frías is a lawyer. Former Attorney of the Nation's Treasury.