The Senate approved the tax measures for tobacco included in title IX of the Bases Law. With the abstention of the Unión por la Patria bloc of senators, the initiative was approved with 33 positive votes, 10 negative votes and 27 abstentions. In this way, internal taxes are equal for all companies in the sector.
When asking to speak, radical senator Martín Lousteau expressed that “cigarettes are evil and cause harm to everyone. “Different entities recommend public policies to reduce tobacco consumption and the effects of smoking.”
This section generated controversy in the chamber, due to the dispute between the legislators of the different tobacco provinces and those who are against the initiative. Bartolomé Abdala did not give rise to the requested modifications and the vote was carried out.
The chapter incorporated into the Bases Law seeks equalize internal taxes for all companies in the tobacco sector, which will go from 70% to 73% and will impact the sales price of the pack of cigarettes.
At the initiative of We Make the Federal Coalition (HCF), the Chamber of Deputies had incorporated into the draft of the Law Bases the chapter on internal taxes referring to tobacco. Which, with 82 votes in favor, 77 against and 69 abstentions, it was finally possible to include the text that had been withdrawn in the first instance due to the pressure exerted by the controversial businessman Pablo Oteroowner of Tabacalera Sarandí and known as “Señor Tabaco”, who intends to continue paying less taxes than its competitors.
In this framework, the Sarandí tobacco company, which dominates 33% of the market and which benefited from offering cigarettes at a lower price as a result of the tax advantages it enjoyed, will once again pay the 73% rate of internal taxes on tobacco ( currently pays 70%), in case the Senate confirms these changes.
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