It is expected that on Friday the plenary session will be installed to vote on the project, and 70 votes are needed to approve the proposal
Without votes and without certainty about the final texts, the National Assembly opened the second and final debate of the urgent project of Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability, with which the Government aspires to collect $ 1.9 billion in two years through new taxes on the people and heritage.
The report was presented by the Economic Development table. The discussion began when there are a few hours left until the deadline for the Assembly to approve or file it expires.. Before the plenary session, the productive sector issued an alert because the previous agreements reached at the technical table created by the commission that processed the proposal were not included.
Productive sector alerts about urgent law when the National Assembly enters today to debate the Executive’s initiative
Within Parliament, each political sector refines its position against the thesis of the Government and criticisms persist about the new taxes that must be paid by those who earn a monthly salary greater than $ 2,600 and those who have an individual wealth greater than $ 1 million.
The political dispute is centered on these two issues. According to the legislators of the Democratic Left and Pachakutik, the Executive does not give in on its proposal, which is why a second option arises, which would be to collect the minority report of the project presented by Correísmo and that would have the support of the Social Christians, whose axis is not pass no tax.
A third avenue that began to be analyzed is the possibility of submitting a motion to archive the Government’s project, for which 70 votes are also needed. In Pachakutik that option is analyzed.
As agreed between the legislative authorities and the Economic Development Commission, once the debate is closed, the text will return to the table for a single session to analyze and approve the incorporation of the suggested changes. If there are no votes to approve the changes, the rapporteur assembly will have the power to present the voting text to the plenary, as determined by article 62 of the Organic Law of the Legislative Function.
The legislator who presented the report, Francisco Jiménez (CREO), in the debate highlighted that the project contains three great books. The first refers to the one-time contribution to large assets and that has to be carried out in 2022 and 2023, there were no observations; the second deals with the temporary regime for assets abroad, which did not have further observations either. But in the third, the greatest amount of changes accumulates, since around 18 laws are reformed.
Regarding the income tax for natural persons, he said that the principles of progressivity and justice are maintained, the ranges are adjusted and the approach will be that those who will pay a higher tax will be those who earn a salary greater than $ 2,600 per month, which means that 136,000 people with income between $ 2,600 and $ 5,000 would cancel $ 182 million.
Meanwhile, 43,000 people who earn over $ 5,000 per month would cancel $ 270 million, which is almost 70% of the expected collection. The personal expenses deduction, according to Jiménez, will remain with a ceiling of $ 10,000.
The legislator pointed out that the idea is to vote for the entire project, that for now it has not been planned to vote for books or articles, and clarified that there are a few more hours to incorporate observations from the debate. He said that they have a plan B, given a scenario of filing the bill.
One of the blocks that at the moment remains divided against the urgent project is Pachakutik, since there are two groups: the first is made up of at least 15 legislators led by Rafael Lucero, who is willing to talk and reach agreements on the final texts of the project ; but there is another group that maintains the thesis of not approving taxes.
Legislator Mario Ruiz stated that they will try to vote en bloc, although although they are together, as Pachakutik is diverse, there are thoughts on one side and the other..
Lucero commented that if they have to vote, the possibility of voting article by article will be analyzed, and that will depend on a decision of the bench.
The Democratic Left through its coordinator, Alejandro Jaramillo, stated that it has presented the observations to be collected by the commission, such as that additional income tax payment is for individuals who earn over $ 3,500 per month. And that it be temporary, in the same way that the contributions to the patrimony for two years, until stabilizing the national economy.
They also propose that it be excluded from the calculation for the special contribution of patrimony to agricultural lands at the national level, that the chapter related to reforms to the Financial Monetary Code be completely eliminated, and that the income tax be maintained.
The position of social Christianity regarding the urgent bill will not change regarding not giving way to the creation of new taxessaid the coordinator of the bench, Esteban Torres, but said that he is concerned that the proposal will enter into force by the Ministry of Law, taking into account that on Saturday the deadline to approve the rule expires, and that at the moment there are no votes. “Be careful the ministry of the Law is being played.”
Former Christian César Rohón spoke of a possible legal limbo due to the lack of votes to approve or archive the project.
The correísta sector, represented by the Unión por la Esperanza bench, prepared a minority report in which the thesis of no more taxes that coincides with the statement of the PSC is raised. Carlos Zambrano, UNES delegate to the Economic Development Commission, clarified that they do not oppose a bill, but they do not agree on 40% of its content which refers to new taxes. (I)
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