In order to urgently advance the idea, the Minister of Economy and presidential candidate of Unión por la Patria (UP), Sergio Massa, tasked his technical teams with doing the fine numbers to give progress to a bill that will go to Congress and propose that workers stop paying income tax. In the middle of a meeting that took place today in the Treasury, before Massa left for Tucumán, the official asked one of his trusted men, the head of Customs, Guillermo Michel, to study «how to ensure that they benefit as much as possible.» number of workers».
In parallel, Massa summoned the leaders of the CGT and CTA on Monday to discuss this idea openly., which the minister himself raised in separate television interviews. The unions do not rule out making a call in front of the Ministry of Finance – the place of the meeting – in view of what they believe may be a possible announcement of the minister’s decision.
In principle, as he knew PageI12, the idea is not to completely eliminate the tax but to focus on the fourth category, where the largest number of formal employees meet, many of them unionized, who have been paying the tax. This could be done, for example, by raising the Non-Taxable Minimum. Naturally, the other side of the situation is the revenue that the State stops receiving, which must be compensated with other income not yet defined. Furthermore, the political route comes into play given that, if debated in Congress, Massa will need the opposition to obtain the votes that validate the modification of the tax.
“Tomorrow (today) we are going to work very hard because the issue requires that we have the capacity to give society a response, and we intend to give it to them quickly,” Massa said last night, during an interview on Public TV. As she said, her “intention is to review the assumptions with the team and at least raise public debate.” In parallel, and in the face of criticism from the opposition, she considered that «I have been proposing the issue of (the elimination of) Profits for many years. If you see my files from 2013, I have been saying that salary is not profit but remuneration. In 2015 and 2017 I also raised it, and I never used it for an election.»
Finally, he warned that «if we do not have Congress to do it quickly, I can assure you that on December 10, one of the first laws that will be passed is the elimination of the Income Tax for workers.» In that sense, the head of AFIP, Carlos Castagnetto came out to support Massa by saying that «he said that if he is president he will remove him, but that does not mean that he can present a bill these days that will be discussed in Congress. The only thing that happens is that today we do not have enough votes to be able to remove him, however if Sergio becomes president, God willing, we will have enough quorum to have a majority.» Likewise, he added that «it is a political decision that is not solely up to the minister but to agree with the governors. Today we do not have a quorum to pass that bill.»
The unions, at the table
With the idea of getting the unions, interested in the issue, to be part of the construction of the idea, Massa called the CGT, the CTA and the authorities of the Chamber of Deputies to a meeting for modifications in the Tax on Profits. It will be on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in the economic portfolio and will be attended by, among others, the Minister of Labor, Kelly Olmos, and the general secretaries of the CGT, Héctor Daer, Pablo Moyano, Carlos Acuña. There will also be leaders Sergio Palazzo (La Bancaria), Hugo Yasky (CTA), Guillermo Moser (Luz y Fuerza), and representatives of the oil, food and aviation unions.
As can be seen from the official communications of the unions, it is not ruled out that the labor movement will call to mobilize at the doors of the Treasury in the face of what they understand may be an «imminent announcement» of the reduction in Profits.
In an interview with the IP Noticias channel, Pablo Moyano, co-head of the CGT and the Truck Drivers’ Union, said that he met with Massa and assured that «it is an announcement that comes at the right time. I hope a bill is sent and that it be accompanied by the vast majority of deputies and senators so that it is approved immediately.»
Likewise, Moyano reported that «this measure is a historic claim that would benefit almost a million workers. Today a sweeper pays Profits. I was in an assembly of colleagues who work in the Water and Soft Drinks sector and about 200 workers, who are the higher salaries, showed that they had to pay between 70 and 100 thousand pesos per month.