The Liaison Table has again requested a tax exemption for people affected by the drought

Following the announcements made by the government last Tuesday to increase the production and consumption of beef and in the midst of a drought, yesterday the The Minister of Agriculture held an informative and technical meeting with the members of the Link table, who again asked for a tax exemption for people affected by the climate problem. The Secretary of Agriculture did not attend the meeting, Juan Jose Bahillo. The presidents of the four entities of agricultural producers, who decided to send their technical teams, were also absent.

As this media has been able to learn, although there were commitments made before the government’s call, in some entities the disagreement with the official measures adopted to deal with the drought weighed more heavily during the decision whether or not to attend the meeting. . In fact, the Argentine Rural Confederations did not send a representative. The meeting was led by the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Jby Manuel Fernandez Arocenaand on behalf of the Liaison Table attended Martin Spada (Argentine Agrarian Federation), Ezequiel De Freijo (Argentinian Rural Society) and Marcelo Espinoza (container). Officials from the National Bank and some Federal Revenue Administration (AFIP).

At the end of the meeting and in statements to the press, Martín Spada said that together with those responsible, an analysis had been made of the announcements made to the Ministry of Internal Trade regarding the production of beef. It should be remembered that it was decided to set up a subsidy of up to 40% of the food needed to fatten animals in times of drought for producers affected by drought. feedlot. Each producer may enroll up to 100 animals in the program, which may only be intended for domestic consumption. The program provides for a duration of 4 months with a fiscal cost of 14.900 million dollars.

“It is a measure that continues to be. We are talking about almost 780,000 heads with the possibility of entering this module. The government says it is to prevent this farm from going to the international market and to stay in the domestic market, and thus encourage the retention of bellies so that they do not leave in the short term. This is a measure that would not reach all producers. If we talk about the world of producers who today with 45% of the country who is in a hurry, it’s a bit rare. Officials tell us these are the funds they can have today,” Spada said.

Given the context of the drought which is worsening and having repercussions in the various productive areas of the country, the technicians of the Liaison Office have discussed with the officials the need to move forward with ease in tax matters. In this regard, Spada added: “We believe that there are other measures that could benefit producers, such as the tax exemption for a periodgiven that most producers are losing belly and production, which will have an impact now and even next year. There is no other specific measure that generates relief for the producer such as the tax exemption. If we start with punitive or compensatory interest to close the accounts of each producer, today it is more than in the red and it will not lift it even if there is an extension due to the emergency ”.

The technical representative of the Agrarian Federation said that before the proposal made by the rural entities, “Afip officials told us that they were going to analyze the request to know the number we are talking about. In addition, all this requires a lot of parliamentary work, because there are different sectors such as ANSES with regard to employer contributions and social works”. For all this, Spada recalled that the main demands are the modification of the regime current withholding tax, the unification of the exchange rate and the total liberalization of beef exports.

Another of the claims that the liaison office has also approached national officials and which has started to come from within productively in the last few hours, is that producers are facing different complications in accessing the benefits of these. inside the country.

Yesterday through a press release, the members of the Santa Fe Confederation of Rural Associations (CARSFE) said that “there have been announcements that Banco Nación will set up support for producers to access credit and ease conditions in the face of the crisis caused by the drought. In this respect, we inform you that the branches of the banking establishment have not received any directive in the sense proposed and that they have no response to the questions addressed to them. An announcement that was only looking for the fantasy that there is management and goodwill on the part of the national government”.

In addition, Martín Spada said that in front of those responsible they explained that “there are many complaints that we have from the producers regarding the internal technical resolutions of Banco Nación. We have requested that even in all official communications from the Ministry, it be quoted on the basis of the resolution of the Banco Nación so that the producer can go to the branches and tell the director of the same what is the line of credit that ‘he comes to ask, and that she corresponds to a certain resolution’.

At the request of the representatives of the producers, according to Martín Spada, “the government considers that this type of situation that can generate unnecessary conflicts must be avoided, since the circular through the internal bureaucracy of the bank does not reach the towns of the the interior of the country where the producer consults and that the manager is not aware of it. It is not the bad will of anyone, just a lack of information. That is why we ask for accelerate all these types of mechanisms”.

Continue reading: