The National Government was embedded with the “chainsaw” as an economic policy model, thus facilitating the tax pressure. But the Argentine tax system is more complex. In the last two years, municipal fees and taxes ceased to be a marginal phenomenon to become a key vector of business competitiveness, price formation and investment allocation in Argentina.
He Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis (Iaraf) relieved in his last Vademécum Tax that there was 155 Taxes in the country, at the national, provincial and municipal level. Of that total, 85 are municipal, showing the fiscal capillarity that local governments exhibit.
The distribution of consolidated tax collection shows a fragmentation that impacts public financing and charging on taxpayers. According to estimates of Iaraf, If the effects of the Federal Tax Copartition and Municipal Co -participation are considered projected, For every $ 100 that enters the fiscal coffers in 2025, the National Treasury would retain $ 25.7, the ANSES would receive $ 28.1, the provinces would concentrate $ 33.7, while the municipalities would obtain $ 12.5.
On the other hand, the municipal fees report prepared by the Center for Studies of the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) He revealed that during 2024 6 new rates were created nationwide, while in the province of Buenos Aires, 13 of the 45 relieved municipalities increased the aliquots with respect to 2022 and only one reduced them.
The financial impact. For their part, financial institutions faced almost constant increases in the provincial and municipal aliquots since 2009, in accordance with a report by the IERAL. According to this analysis, the tax burden would reach 44% of the total cost of the loan. Among the most relevant are the Banking and Debit Tax (“Al Check”), to the gross income on credit operations and the stamps applied to cards and other instruments. To this are added municipal rates by branches, ATMs and self -service terminals. “The low level of banking of the last 20 years is greatly explained by high tax pressure on banking users “, Add said report.
The study disseminated by the UIA identified that one in three municipal obligations responds to the safety and hygiene inspection rate (Tish), It impacts directly on productive activity and merchandise, for 0.7% of total collection if the three levels of government are considered and represents 1.8% of the final price of food products. The other tax with strong presence is the rate of authorization of economic activities (Thae), used to authorize the operation of companies and predominates in Chubut, Tucumán, Santa Fe, Chaco, San Luis, Mendoza and Córdoba. The Tish, on the other hand, has greater weight in Buenos Aires and Neuquén. Do not forget the supply rate, which is charged on food products that enter municipalities for commercial purposes. In the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA), the main municipal tax remains the lighting, sweeping and cleaning (ABL). The survey that developed the UIA explained that, within the 45 municipalities relieved in the province of Buenos Aires, 13 increased the aliquots, another 31 municipalities maintained the current percentages and only one reduced them. According to the data collected, the average percentage paid by industrial companies was 0.79% in 2022 and 0.85% in 2024.
Evolution. Another report released by the Argentine Chamber of Commerce (CAC), prepared by the Iaraf, presented how the Safety and hygiene rate (TSH) in 30 Argentine municipalities during the 2010-2023 period. The study reflected a marked increase in the tax burden exerted by local governments through this tax.
On average, municipalities that apply TSH through an aliquot registered a 19%increase. The impact was even deeper in those districts that use a fixed amount, where the adjustment amounted to 125%.
According to the president of the CAC, Mario Grinmanthe ingenuity to collect and spend has no limits. “The rulers do not assume the reality that political costs must be paid to make the changes that this country needs”, Argues. For his part, Daniel Calzetta, president of the CAC Tax Affairs Commission, stressed that the growing municipal taxation takes the form of undercover taxes before true rates. “The adjustment of the municipalities does not have to be done based on increasing fees and creating taxes that only complicate economic activity” He emphasized.
Impact on prices and investments. In a context of growing concern for the sustainability of the Argentine tax scheme, a recent survey of Argentina KPMG To more than 100 CEOs and tax specialists from medium and large companies, allowed to dimension the incidence of taxes on final prices and economic activity. The consultant’s study identified that the tribute with the greatest negative impact on companies is Gross Income (IIBB), indicated by 54% of those consulted as the main factor that makes products and services more expensive. In fact, the tribute was news in recent weeks due to the decision of Free market and Payment marketwhich will apply positions differentiated by province according to the impact of the tax to the II.BB. In each jurisdiction. The second most distortive tax for companies is the income tax, followed by other impositions such as municipal fees, which complete the podium of fiscal concern. An overwhelming majority (93%) considers that the current tax scheme does not stimulate investment. For example, the National Bank It launched an adjustment plan that provides for the closure of 60 branches throughout the country, explained as “operational rearrangement” that, they say, would allow savings of more than $ 1 billion.
Those responsible. Matías Olivero VilaPresident of NGO logica civil association dedicated to promoting tax awareness, attributes the responsibility that Argentina appears among countries with greater tax pressure to legislative and executive powers in their three levels of government. However, he also pointed out that there is a “Fiscal ecosystem” That this situation was functional, composed of key institutions such as the Judiciary, the tax authorities and even the business sector itself and the citizenship as a whole. “There is an aspect of the judicial action that does affect the tax policy, since the judges have been, in general, more and more tolerant with the excesses committed in the norms by the political powers ”close.
In an integrated system, while the national fiscal pressure monopolizes the attention, local taxes advance and complicate productive activity, undergo financing and deteriorate the competitiveness of companies. Nothing less.
