Catharsis of businessmen via WhatsApp: unease and anger at the constant advance of tax pressure

The last stretch of the year found businessmen and women intertwining greetings from the weekend with messages loaded with pessimism. The trigger for the business malaise can be summarized in that they admit with dismay that the first concrete consequence of the political scene that emerged from December 10 until now aimed, in different ways, to increase the tax pressure.

The false step of the opposition in Deputies to address the changes to the Personal Property tax, the agreement reached by President Alberto Fernández with the governors for the Fiscal Consensus and the appearance on the scene of an inheritance tax, occupied the center of business conversations. This was registered both in the few personal encounters, threatened by the new wave of covid-19, and in active virtual contacts.

Examples of this unease were seen both in social networks and in the WhatsApp group “Our voice”, where more than 200 most relevant businessmen in Argentina renewed their catharsis to complain against the tax burden.

A member of the group confirms the pessimism of the WhatsApp group: “There is a lot of unease about the tax issue, among businessmen and in ‘Our voice’ in particular”

“Anger was unleashed in recent days by various things, such as the naivete of the opposition having called to debate Personal Assets without knowing if they had the necessary votes. From the government side comes the usual: more regulations, more taxes and continue governing without having an economic plan”One of those businessmen explained to Infobae.

When it comes to chatting, among businessmen “there is a lot of alignment against the government,” but there is more and more criticism of Together for Change, said the businessman. On the tax front, they believe that there was a lack of firmness to defend the Fiscal Pact initiated in the previous government.

The few compliments of the last days were taken away the two bullrich: Esteban, for his moving speech upon leaving Congress, and Patricia, for his staunch opposition to the government. “That a part of the opposition has supported the re-election of mayors in the province generated a lot of anger “added.

In Our voice, explains the source, changed the focus of concerns: “Before, the debate revolved around the reasons for the economic crisis. Now, they talk about decadence ”.

The trigger for the business malaise can be summarized in that they admit with dismay that the first concrete consequence of the political scenario that emerged from December 10 until now aimed, through different channels, to increase the tax pressure

Another member of the group confirms that climate. “There is a lot of unease about the tax issue, among businessmen and in ‘Our voice’ in particular. Do you want to know what the group is talking about? “, repeats before consulting Infobae and reviews the news of the group on his cell phone.

In the last messages contributed by the businessmen a meme appears that says “A country where those who cannot justify their wealth promote a tax on wealth”; an alert from a news channel states that “The government freezes prices in the tourism sector” and that the announcement will be made by the President himself; a newspaper column that criticizes the tax pressure and speaks of “a country depleted.”

On that note is supported a comment by Silvia Torres Carbonel, IAE director, linked to the entrepreneurial world and active participant of the group, where she talks about “the 23 governors who travel in jets”, whose expenses she considers “One of the deepest causes of our decline”. In the same message, he mentions Constitution, a “city digital platform” that works “to recover the Republic that our constituents dreamed of”.

Another forum, in search of catharsis against tax pressure, added a video of the Nobel Prize in Economics Milton friedman, explaining the damages of taxing the inheritance. “Such a tax would encourage people to dissipate their wealth, to live large. Where will the factories, machines, capital investments? Such a tax would destroy the continuity of society ”, Friedman warned in the ’70s.

This is discussed in a chat in which key names from different sectors of the business sector appear, such as Gustavo Grobocopatel (Los Grobo), Martin Migoya Y Guibert Englebienne (Globant), Cristiano Rattazzi (Fiat), Sergio kaufman (Accenture), Martin Cabrales, (Café Cabrales), Diego Bekerman (Microsoft), Federico Procaccini (OpenBank), Javier Goñi (Ledesma), Agustín Otero Monsegur (San Miguel) and Emiliano kargieman (Satellogic).

Some of these claims reached social networks, particularly Twitter, the most frequented to fix positions of this kind. Under the hashtag #Noalasubadeimpuestos, many of these entrepreneurs reiterated a harsh message with the intention of going viral: “This fiscal voracity with higher and new taxes will have a unique and disastrous result: that exports increase, but of capital, businessmen and entrepreneurs. Every day fewer companies, less employment and more poverty! “

In Our voice had a lot of repercussion a column that the businessman Ricardo Esteves, one of the group’s most active commentators, published in Infobae last Sunday under the title “A blow to savings, entrepreneurship and growth”. The column, triggered by the change in Personal Assets and “the extension of the confiscatory rate of 2.5% on assets stored abroad”, affirms that with this modification “A slap was lavished on national savings, an ultimatum to wealthy people – those who have not yet left – to emigrate once and for all, and a brutal disincentive to investment and growth, which, for a country like the Argentine Republic that desperately needs investment to reduce poverty, it constitutes a true tragedy of which the public opinion seems not to have noticed ”.

“It is very good that the lower band of the average income has been exempted from taxing Personal Assets, but not at the cost of continue expelling businessmen from the country and encourage evasion “Esteves concluded.

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