With a change in the Earnings regulation, The Government expects to add an extra $200,000 million in advances from companies to pay the bonus to retirees that would be announced on Wednesday.
The possibility had been suggested weeks ago by the former head of the AFIP, Mercedes Marcó del Pont, after the approval of the former Minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis, and President Alberto Fernández. Although these officials are no longer in their positions, the initiative was taken up by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.
After several conversations between Carlos Castagneto, current head of the AFIP, and Guillermo Michel, director of Customs and Sergio Massa’s trusted man on tax issues, last week the regulatory change would be announced in the coming days, according to what they told THE NATION.
“On Thursday and Friday we met with the director of Anses. We review the scenarios and on Wednesday we will announce the measure, which includes, in addition to the normal rate, additional support for our retirees. The announcement will be made on Wednesday at 17″, Massa reported yesterday on Twitter.
“To that accompaniment We are going to support it in a greater collection by advance of Earnings decided by AFIP, so that this income from sectors with greater payment capacity, we turn it into one of the sectors that suffers the most without affecting the order of our accounts”, added the Minister of Economy.
The decision to add the cost of financing the bond to retirees to part of the private sector goes hand in hand with Massa’s intention not to expand spending at the cost of more financing from the Central Bank (BCRA). In fact, Massa has already asked the Secretary of the Treasury, Raúl Rigo, not to ask for more reinforcements of transitory advances and tomorrow $10,000 million will be returned to the monetary entity.
As this media found out, Marcó del Pont left the new regulation on advances ready to go, but without signing. The final decision was discussed between Michel and Castagneto, and was announced by Massa.
The new regulation, which should not go through Congress because it is not a modification of the law, but the use of powers granted by article 21 of the current rule that governs the tax, would add a fee of between 15% and 25% in advance in the year. Unlike the Tax on Wealth or the Extraordinary Income -which Martín Guzmán would promote in Congress- it does not add fresh funds to the public coffers, but advances part of what a 1911 company should pay next year for Profits.
In the Government they affirm that next year they would continue to have the usual amount of collection for Profits, since the benefits that will be advanced were more substantial this year as a consequence of the economic impacts left by the Russian invasion in Ukraine in some markets. Therefore, this decision would affect, they say, companies linked to energy, mining and cereals.
This is not a minor sum, the one that would be advanced by Massa’s decision. The Ministry of Economy reported last December that the “Solidarity and Extraordinary Contribution to help moderate the effects of the Pandemic” -the so-called wealth tax- had raised $247.503 million.
The portfolio headed then by Martín Guzmán estimated that the contribution it had been paid by some 10,000 taxpayers “all belonging to the highest income decile of the economy.”
With Guzmán still in charge of Economy, the Government was working on sending a tax on “Unexpected Income” to Congress. I was going reaching 360 companies and raising US$1 billion. That project The text would have only two articles: in one they will explain the conditions that companies must meet to be covered by the additional rate of 15% on the “extraordinary profit” and in the other, the term of validity of the tax, which is for only time over the fiscal period 2022.
However, close to Massa they considered that there was no margin -with the opposition against it- in Congress to add new collection through new taxes or a rise in taxes. In that sense, to finance the bonus for retirees, this shortcut was reached that financially affects companies.