As soon as he took office, Alberto Fernández presented his omnibus law, which he called Social Solidarity and Productive Reactivation in the Framework of the Public Emergency.
There, among other powers, he managed to obtain the NATIONAL tax (For an Inclusive and Solidarity Argentina) which was nothing other than a surcharge on the purchase of dollars for savings and payment of expenses by card credit or debt abroad, as well as services purchased outside the country, such as flight ticket or hotels.
The tax, 30%, came into force at the beginning of 2020, after the law was passed, and had a valid for 5 years. And it was set at 8% for digital goods, such as streaming services Netflix or Spotify.
However, as dollar shortages approached the previous government, the PAIS tax was extended to luxury goods and, since last July also to imports in general, which have begun to pay 7.5%.
Then, Javier Milei increased the percentage from 7.5% to 17.5% for freight for the import and export of goods and for the import of goods not exempt from the tax, provided that they are not luxury goods.
This way, was gaining weight in the collection because it concerns a much wider range of activities than those originally envisaged. Therefore, governors are now asking for this tax to be shared in the negotiation for the omnibus bill.
How much does the PAIS tax collect?
The PAIS was the only tax that beat inflation in 2023. While the overall collection closed with a decline of 8.2% in real terms (i.e. discounted inflation) and reached 42,981,821 Millions of dollars, This particular draw reached $1,510,889 million. This is a real increase of 202.9%, according to the consultancy ACM. This is due to the broadening of the tax base starting last July.
This tax began to take on more and more importance. “In 2022 it represented 0.4% of GDP while in 2023 this percentage would rise to 0.8%. will double his collection in a year”, calculated the ACM query.
Due to the extension of the tax (and also the August and December devaluations) which occurred in July, 79% of the total PAIS collections in 2023 were recorded between August and December.
Source: Clarin
