With the PASO repeal project in the air, the time has come for the protagonists of 2023 to revise their preconceptions. First of all, the government, which suffered a formidable legislative defeat in the budget debate when it was least convenient and at its most weak point.
The 134 negative votes of the project to impose the tax on magistrates’ income are the standard by which the government must measure the battles to come.
Those negative ratings are a lesson for making an elementary tactical mistake: never let your opponents join in the front. You fight one at a time, because the worst part is that they line up to slap you.
Among those negative votes there are all the blocs, including the deputies of the FdT for the union quota. The anti-PASO project was fired on the same Wednesday a few hours after the end of the Budget session. It did not mediate a balance of the government’s defeat in the two substantive issues it wanted to impose: the powers to legalize an increase in withholding taxes and the laborious imposition of Profit on the judges.
Most vulnerable officials
The extent of the defeat is illustrated by the biggest concession, which was leave in place the sanction system provided for by the Law on Financial Administration for negligent officials in spendingto ensure approval.
It is a ghost that is scarier since Dilma Rousseff was fired in Brazil for precisely this type of irregularity, not corruption.
Article 18 of the draft proposed to cancel for the financial year 2023 the provisions contained in articles 2 and 3 of the law on financial administration (25.152). This rule imposes the rules of the budgets (art. 2) and provides for penalties for officials who commit present or future expenses higher than those authorized in the budget (art. 3).
The Ministry of Finance and the Court of Auditors of the Nation are obliged to report the officials responsible for such irregularities so that they promote acts of loyalty pursuant to art. 248 cp.
The opposition managed to keep that article 3 in force with the argument of transparency in spending. It was no coincidence, because Carlos Heller, the ruling party’s informant, admitted: “At the request of the Unión Cívica Radical and Evolución Radical blocks, the reference to Article 3 of Law 25.152 is deleted, worded as follows:“ Article 18: The provisions contained in Article 2 of Law 25.152 and its amendments ”.
There are government actions that can fall under this observation, such as the use of the so-called “soy dollar” post, which required the issuance of securities that can generate liability for officials, starting with Sergio Massa. We are at the end of the mandate and save yourself who can bounce around the corridors.
In this case, Congress leaves the papers to the Executive for possible complaints. It is one of the great secret victories that the opposition can boast. If the Senate tries to change it, the project must return to the Deputies, where the tug-of-war will be repeated.
All collect the state with the debtor’s jubilee
The Chamber has let the approval of the colossal pay-off pursuant to art. 96 with which a gigantic cancellation of debts with the Nation’s AFIP is dictatedthe provinces and municipalities, for “tax debts and social security resources due until 31 October 2022, whatever their status”.
It is a law of oblivion that condones the debts incurred by the rulers to the jurisdictions. It is an initiative of the ruling party but that the opposition has let slip by looking for another one. We all have debts and this makes the 96th a multi-party business with only one victim, the taxpayer who supports public spending with his taxes.
Cristina dragged them into another failure
Can a coalition like the FT that does not have a unified leadership strike a strategic balance? It is the most difficult, because each cacique has a different goal and, consequently, its own strategy.
In the big picture, how could it occur to them to be involved in a project encouraged by Cristina, such as the profit for the judges? Her initiatives in this area have all failed.
Where are the entrances of the collision with the same stone? It causes them harm that does not affect Together for Change, although this force has shown contrary positions, with dissent in 16 of the 150 articles voted.
Everything that is done in politics must be read in context. The defeatist spirit of the government, which is expressed through the funeral oratory of the Kirchner family, is a factor of disunity. The opposite spirit the optimism that they will win in 2023, according to all the polls, shields the unity of JxC
Source: Clarin
