{"id":105252,"date":"2020-12-09T13:55:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T05:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=105252"},"modified":"2020-12-09T13:55:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T05:55:10","slug":"argentina-passes-new-tax-on-the-rich-opposition-claims-it-will-further-deter-foreign-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=105252","title":{"rendered":"Argentina passes new tax on the rich; opposition claims it will further deter foreign investment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BUENOS AIRES, Dec 9 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentina has passed a new wealth tax to help the government pay for health supplies and economic relief measures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers in the Senate passed the bill, dubbed the \u201cmillionaire\u2019s tax,\u201d by 42 votes to 26 late on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means those with a personal fortune of over 200 million pesos (US$ 2.4 million) \u2014 approximately 12,000 people \u2014 will have to pay a one-off tax of at least 2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The populist government has said the legislation could see Latin America\u2019s third-largest economy collect up to US$ 3.7 billion, with the funds used to buy medical equipment and supplies, provide support to small and medium-sized firms, and to assist poor neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Argentina\u2019s population of 45 million has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, becoming only the fifth country worldwide to surpass 1 million confirmed infections in October. To date, it has recorded almost 1.5 million Covid-19 infections, with 39,770 related deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strict public health restrictions have also hampered an economy already reeling from high levels of unemployment, sky-high inflation rates, rising levels of poverty and massive government debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OECD has forecast Argentina\u2019s real GDP to contract by 12.9% this year and expects the country\u2019s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic to lag behind every other major economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the authors of the new wealth tax estimated it would impact 0.8% of the country\u2019s taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It \u201cis extraordinary because the circumstances are extraordinary,\u201d Senator Anabel Fernandez Sagasti, a lawmaker in the country\u2019s ruling party, said via Twitter on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must find points of connection between those who have the most to contribute and those who need it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the proceeds raised by the levy, allegedly 20% would go toward medical supplies, 20% would go to small and medium-sized companies, 15% to social developments, 20% to student scholarships and 25% to natural gas ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition lawmakers have criticized the new measures, saying the taxes are unlikely to be a one-off and suggesting they could further deter foreign investment. — NNN-MERCOPRESS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 9 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentina has passed a new wealth tax to help the government pay for health supplies and economic relief measures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers in the Senate passed the bill, dubbed the \u201cmillionaire\u2019s tax,\u201d by 42 votes to 26 late on Friday. It means those with a personal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":105256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105252"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/105256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}