Argentina-Farm dispute and export taxes.
ARGENTINA-MORE OF THE FARMERS PLIGHT AND EXPORT TAX.
Hector Recalde. union strong man in an interveiw with the Buenos Aires Herald says that the 35% export duy paid by farmers on soy, "Is not counted as tax".
"Many businessmen complain about the presence of workers in hygiene and safety committees. They don’t want the participation of workers there unless that presence comes as the result of collective bargaining agreements, but this is a trick.
"Where do workers’ rights arise from in that connection? From Article 14 bis. Its statement that workers have the right to control production implies that labour hazards must be reduced."
Lambasting the farm sector. The Herald asked Recalde to comment on farmers’ demands that the grain export duties — which the government does not consider technically a tax and hence doesn’t share with the provinces and Buenos Aires City — should be replaced by income tax to ensure that they only pay in case there is actually a profit, not like the current system by which they are levied 35 percent regardless of whether they are losing money.
Recalde replied: "It seems that all ways are good not to pay taxes. But there is a saying that all roads lead to Rome. And Rome is the cradle of Roman law, one of whose basic principles was that that those earning the most should also contribute the most."
He added that the farm sector passed from the disaster they suffered with a strong peso in the 1990s to having a production and profits boom in 2003. "Let’s hope that they continue making hefty profits. But they have also to admit that they have to distribute riches."
Recalde said that if Government Resolution 125 issued by the President in March 2008 had been passed in Congress, farmers would be better off today .
He added that small- and mid-sized farmers would have also enjoyed a number of benefits such as subsidized diesel fuel for those living more than 400 kilometres form ports, or a tax reduction, "but they lost them due to (Vice-President) Cleto Cobos voting against it in the Senate. For them it was ’soybeans or death.’"
Critics of Vice-President Julio Cobos — who is now fiercely at odds with Mrs. Kirchner — often use his middle name (Cleto) when they want to be ironic about him.
Farm activity has been affected by the global crisis and an unprecedented drought, but farmers claim that the main factor behind Argentina harvesting this season about 30 million tons less of grain as compared to the 98 million of last season is due to poor, discriminatory government policies. The Argentine Small Farmers Federation (FAA) last week said that the sharp fall means the country ceases to earn 18 billion dollars and the government five billion dollars in duty revenue. The 55-million head of cattle fell by three million. Farmers say that Argentina, a bread basket, may be forced to import grains and beef in the not far future.
Recalde was asked to comment on a farmers’ demand that not only they, but other also sectors such as industry, oil, fishing and gambling be taxed. He said: "I am deeply concerned about rural workers. This is the sector having the highest number of workers in irregular conditions, the one with the highest child labour exploitation rate and the one with the highest rate of accidents at the workplace.
"There are children marking the fields that must be sprayed by aircraft and even five or six year- old — not 15 or 16 — kids picking cotton. Currently, the law bans children under 15 from working. As from next year the threshold will be risen to 16," Recalde said. "It also amazes me that the Argentine Small Farmers Federation last year opposed in Congress a proposal to limit the work day to eight hours a day or a 48-hour week."
