“Logical taxes”: an association asks presidential candidates for definitions on public spending and tax burden

The non-profit civil association Logicwhich is dedicated to “creating fiscal awareness in all sectors and social levels,” proposed that the presidential candidates who will face each other in the runoff, Sergio Massa and Javier Mileianswer eight questions on public spending and taxes during the presidential debate.

“Messrs. Sergio Massa and Javier Milei, just 8 questions that can change the lives of all Argentines,” they ask.

Public spending:

1- According to different estimates, consolidated public spending has been between 42% and 47% in the last 5 years (Invecq). At what level do you commit to taking it 2 and 4 years into your mandate?

2- On which 5 main items of public spending would your main increases/reductions focus?

Taxes:

3- Do you commit to not sanction new taxes or increase but rather lower existing ones?

4- How much do you commit to raising the fiscal pressure in the 2nd and 4th years of your mandate? According to estimates (UIA), the fiscal pressure in the formal sector is 50.7%.

5- What tools are you going to use to fight informality? According to different estimates, informality exceeds 40%.

Inflation:

6- How long will it take you to commit to bringing annual inflation to less than one digit?

7- How long do you commit to eliminating it, if it were within your government objectives?

Fiscal Transparency:

8- Do you commit to issuing a tax transparency standard that makes the VAT and other national and local taxes applicable to their purchases visible to consumers?

As explained by Lógica, the chronic excesses of public spending and taxes have their cause in the lack of tax culture of our society generated by a regime that systematically hides taxes from citizens.

“Something as simple as the fact that taxes are not visible on consumption tickets has a lot to do with the fiscal tragedy that we Argentines suffer,” he points out. Matias Olivero Vilapresident of Lógica.

In this scenario, it proposes as a way out the sanction of a regime of maximum fiscal transparency in consumer receipts, similar to that implemented in Brazil. This regime would generate fiscal awareness among citizens in the short term, demanding logical expenses and taxes from the political sector.

Olivero Vila is a lawyer and public accountant from the UCA and completed the “International Tax Program” at Harvard, USA. He is a member of the Argentine Association of Fiscal Studies, the International Fiscal Association and the International Bar Association (IBA). He was vice president of the Tax Policy Department of the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) and member of the Honorary Advisory Council of Fiscal Affairs of the Chamber of Public Limited Companies since 2006.