“We are on track and chatting, but until the last minute this doesn’t end“, suggests a Peronist mayor who is fully involved in the different negotiations taking place in La Plata so that the Buenos Aires Legislature votes favorably this Thursday on the provincial Budget and the Tax Law for next year.
These two laws, added to the changes in the retirement regime for employees of Banco Provincia, appear as the agenda – and which will surely end up approved – for a marathon session that could end around early Friday morning.
For both laws—Budget and Tax Law—the ruling party requires a simple majority, since it obtained a favorable commission opinion last week. That is to say, if there are 92 deputies—all of those present—he will need 47. The Union for the Homeland bloc chaired by the camper, Facundo Tignanelli It has 37. In the Senate, for its part, it needs 24 senators out of a total of 46 that the Chamber has. Peronism has a bench of 21 members and needs three allies. The cannons are aimed at the bench called Libertad Avanza and presided over by the senator Sergio Vargasbut that has nothing to do with Javier Milei at this point.
But the initiatives could have greater support if the Executive refines the request of officials and opponents to iInclude a fund destined for municipalities that was not included in the original drafting of the project. According to what they entrusted to Infobae negotiators, weeks ago the topic began to be discussed in a reserved manner. This Tuesday, some figures were made public and revealed after a meeting held by Peronist mayors and the main legislative swords. There is talk of a final amount of 450 billion pesos to be allocated among the 135 municipalities. “We show our faces, but This is useful to officials and opponents.“, clarified one of the mayors who was at the meeting on Tuesday that took place in Room 30 of the Chamber of Deputies.
There is an issue within the Budget that will be resolved later this Thursday and it has to do with the debt request. The opposition could propose removing it from the Budget and voting on it later, specifically in February. The approval of this article requires two-thirds. Until Thursday night, due to the way the negotiations had taken place, the ruling party did not reach that stage.
Regarding the law that limits indefinite reelections, the most pessimistic mayors stated that only in February could the issue be put on the table to obtain a law that repeals what was passed in 2016, which basically limits the mandates of mayors, legislators, and councilors. and school counselors to a single re-election. The most optimistic still let it slip that there is a gap for the issue to end in the venue this Thursday. “I wouldn’t rule it out,” said a mayor with real interest. In the opposition blocs they admit that Peronism can advance. “If the project or whatever appears, we are going to stand up,” they said from the PRO benches.
As he told Infobaeone of the alternatives is for an article to appear in the Budget this Thursday repealing the law. The Renovador Front, which has ten deputies within the UP bench and one senator in the official bloc of the upper house, continued to refuse to make changes to the law that limits terms and the strategy of those who wanted to repeal the norm entered a labyrinth.
“There’s nothing wrong with it. At the time, Vidal included the online game in a Budget with an article,” a mayor anticipated that he would seek to cancel the initiative that regulates re-elections.
The presence of the representatives of the Buenos Aires Supreme Court of Justice, Daniel Soria and Sergio Torresin the Chamber of Deputies also surprised this Wednesday. The courtiers held a meeting with the block presidents and chamber authorities. They expressed their concern about the resources provided in the Budget for the functioning of the Judicial Branch. They say that to function they need $90 billion and today the budget includes $21 billion. As reported from the Chamber of Deputies itself, the president of the Court thanked the Chamber for having heard the demands and said that It is the first time that the Ministry of Economy of the Province does not call them to be able to hear what they need in the Budgetbeing a power of the State.
At the closing of this note, The Buenos Aires Executive showed a willingness to move forward with the dialogue to, in the first instance, obtain the greatest number of votes possible for the Budget and the Tax Law, despite the fact that a priori there would be the necessary numbers. “We need the tools and We are going to do everything in our power to make it so.“, they slipped.
The opposition questioned that even until Wednesday night the requests and conversations with the Executive were practically null and that they began “to walk” through the president of the Budget Commission in Deputies, Juan Pablo De Jesus who transferred the requests to the Minister of Economy, Pablo Lopez. In particular, with regard to a fund for the municipalities that has the same characteristics as the one that operated this year: that is, freely available. They also requested that the disbursement be in fewer installments.
The opposition suggested that to accompany the Tax Law, the Executive should make changes to articles 158 and 163, among others. The dispute over article 158 of the Tax Law reflects strong opposition from blocks such as the UCR, the PRO, La Libertad Avanza and the Civic Coalition, who demand its elimination. This article establishes an increase in the tax on Gross Income applicable to port terminal exploitation activities, with amounts that would be paid monthly and in addition to the current rate. However, the Executive refuses to give in on this point.
For its part, article 163 also generates controversy by granting, according to the opposition, excessive “delegated powers” to the Buenos Aires Collection Agency (Arba). This section allows real estate and automobile taxes to be calculated at the time of issuing each installment, using an adjustable coefficient that Arba would have the power to modify based on possible variations, a mechanism that has been strongly questioned in the legislative sphere.
