Economy minister Axel Kicillof has announced that the reductions in income tax for those in the lowest brackets will be applied from the start of this year, meaning that savings for affected workers will be backdated to January 2015.
The measures, revealed yesterday by the Economy Ministry, reach workers who pay income tax on monthly salaries between 15,000 and 25,000 pesos. Those eligible will see breaks of between 18 and 69 percent in tax obligations, depending on their family status. Kicillof’s further revelation that the cuts will be backdated means that thousands of employees will receive rebates when the new system comes into force, from June onwards.
Kicillof also brushed off criticism from some trade union sectors, who argued that the concession was insufficient and continued arguing for a raise in the income tax floor. «The minimum level is not the problem,» he insisted during an interview with FM Blue.
Earlier today, in an interview with the Vorterix radio station, Kicillof criticised the supposed assertion from opposition and media figures which held that “income tax affects all workers in Argentina.”
“It is a lie, only the highest-earning 10 percent pay, it is not an issue for the working class in general.”
“There is a campaign by opposition media that seek to install (the idea) that the government steals workers’ salaries; income tax in Argentina is not the highest in the world nor in the region. In Argentina, it accounts for 6 percent of the tax collection, in Chile, 8.6 percent and in Brazil, 7.2 percent,” the minister highlighted, adding that the political debate on income tax must not be based on “lies.”
“For some union leaders, the idea was to modify the brackets in order to flatten them and that is what we basically announced, no more, no less; it has a high fiscal cost and some will say it is a lot, that is not much or, irresponsibly, they will say the tax has to be removed.”
Source: Buenos Aires Herald