Changes in Sunat amid declining income

After tax revenues recovered in January after 10 consecutive months of decline (it advanced by 3.4%), in February collection fell by 7.2%, some S/485 million less compared to a year ago, reported the Sunat, who yesterday appointed Gerardo Arturo López Gonzáles as the new national superintendent.

This career official replaces Luis Vera Castillo, who last week presented his resignation to the leadership of Sunat, a position he held since March 10, 2020. This change had already been anticipated by the minister Jose Arista.

structural problem

Beyond the changes in the management of the entity and possible increases in the country’s tax revenues, for César Flores Unzaga, of the Fiscal Justice Group Peru, What is urgent is structural changes, since Peru has remained stagnant —in the level of collection— compared to its peers in the region and not to mention compared to the OECD bloc.

While the country’s tax pressure expands to 17% of the GDP In times of rising mineral prices, outside of that situation its average level is around 15%. “This level of collection has been dragging on for 50 years,” he warns.

Meanwhile, according to data from the ECLAC, in 1990 the tax pressure in Latin America was already 16% and rose to 23% on average, between 1999 and 2018, that is, 30 years later. “That is one of the issues in which the country is historically tied up,” Flores details.

The most advanced countries (OECD) have a collection level of 35% of GDP, 20 GDP points ahead of Peru. “We will never reach a level of attention to citizens with this level of tax collection. For decades, OECD countries have been increasing their tax burden by 3%. That should be a starting point,” the expert recommended.

Clue

Detractions. The application of Law No. 31903, which grants the free disposal of funds from withdrawal accounts belonging to companies considered mypes, was one of the factors that influenced the drop in collection in February, as revealed by Sunat.