- Council taxes: how many are there and why do they affect economic activity?
- The UIA warning on municipal rates
He Pilar municipality has been at the center of the debate in recent days. The reason for this was related to a recent increase des Environmental protection quota, whose rate was 2%.
The tax change that was introduced Tax Ordinance 2026; Article 66 of “Chapter XXV – Environmental Protection Tariff” has full effect on the price of each ticket issued – within the game Supermarkets, hypermarkets, shopping malls, hotels, industries, service companies and private universities.
“This regulation comes into force from December 1, 2025“, says Article 342 of “Chapter XXVIII – Supplementary Provisions”.
The news immediately reached the offices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. “Do not buy anything in Pilar. Do not support the irresponsible actions of your mayor (Fernando Achával)”he suggested Luis Caputo in a post on his X account.
What exactly has changed? The Tax Ordinance 2026 stipulated that the The tax base will be the total amount of the operationless value added tax (VAT), at a rate of 2%. That is, from now on Every purchase becomes two percent more expensive.
The Association of United Supermarkets (ASU) was the first to express his opposition to the measure he was implementing Mayor Fernando Achávalwith a focus on “unfair competition”. Due to the events in Pilar, ASU sent a letter to the municipality’s finance minister. Anahi Morettiand called for an “urgent” hearing.
“The surcharge has a particular impact on the sale of high-value products such as household appliances and leads to a ‘competitive disadvantage’.”says a fragment of the statement.
And he notes: “The surcharge becomes more noticeable in the middle of the Christmas shopping month, when household consumption increases significantly“.
This was added to the wave of criticism Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Services (CAC). In a harsh statement, he revealed a problem that was initially “silently” expanding: the increase in tax pressures in various subnational jurisdictions.
“Although in recent days the disproportionate “environmental protection rate” established by the Municipality of Pilar has gained publicity – reaching 2% of companies’ turnover in some cases – this should be taken into account Unfortunately, financial greed is a widespread phenomenonThe harms economic activity throughout Argentina,” emphasized the CAC.
The citizens’ association also emphasized that “the disproportionate growth in public spending led to governments constantly looking for new revenue to finance, burdening the exhausted backs of the private sector with multiple taxes“.
And as noted in the statement, the reality is that local governments’ implementation of these rates is something that matters to taxpayers It is nothing more than “a tax disguised as a fee”He wasn’t born overnight.
“The CAC urges subnational jurisdictions to do so Avoiding new tax increases and reversing recently introduced tax increases; At the same time, it calls on them to maximize their efforts to make spending more efficient and combat tax evasion, in order to allow a gradual reduction of the burden in line with the provisions of the Government,” says the statement at the end of the statement from the body she leads. Mario Grinman.
Tax Regulation 2026 from Cronista.com
Council taxes: how many are there and why do they affect economic activity?
At the national and subnational levels, Argentina is the country with the greatest fiscal pressure on the formal sector, according to a US federal survey Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“There are 23 provinces with municipalities, municipalities, development units and municipalities. All of them have the tax power to set taxes (generally tax rates).which are attributable to the economic activity (in the case of the trade or invoice tax tariff, a designation dependent on the municipality) or to the property (general property tariff or lighting, sweeping and cleaning tariff -ABL-), explains the tax lawyer Daniel Ricardo GarcíaPartner of LexTax advice.
Likewise, he was of the view that the main question was that of the auditor or commercial rates, and in principle for that reason “the absence or poor provision of services”but also because of the tax base, as several municipalities “They’re trying to make the same income.”.
In addition, he also mentioned the Weight of tariffs on a company’s activities (0.3%-10%). “These three situations do The conflict between companies with municipal tariffs is increasing“, he emphasizes.
From an economic point of view, García emphasized that “trade rates are the same multiphasic and cumulative effect“that the Gross Income Tax. This also implies that the rate “becomes the cost of the product and is carried forward to the next economic stage.”
Total amount of taxes in Argentina
Strictly speaking, that is Argentine Institute of Financial Analysis (Iaraf)in his tax vademecum, explained that there are such in the country 155 Taxes (taxes, fees, contributions and duties) between national, regional and local government levels.
Overall, the list of taxes is as follows:45 depend on the state, 25 on the provinces and 85 on the municipalities.
From Iaraf they estimate that the collection of eight taxes will be equivalent 29.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the whole year 2025:
- Value Added Tax (VAT);
- Provincial Gross Income Tax;
- social security contributions;
- income tax on legal entities;
- Personal social security contributions;
- personal income tax;
- Tax on bank debits and credits;
- Export duties.
The point is that when these eight taxes are added together, the Fuel tax, the municipal safety and hygiene tax (TISH), import duties and shared internal taxesit is observed that the 94% of consolidated tax revenues are concentrated in twelve taxes, Ten of them are national, one provincial and one municipall.
Appearing in this list is the “safety and hygiene tax”, a tax that affects companies and industries and is considered to be levied Safety, health and hygiene controls that a municipality provides or is required to provide.
The UIA warning on municipal rates
At the end of August the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) prepared a report focusing on local taxes, “An invisible toll we all pay”.
According to the document, in Argentina Municipal taxes place an additional burden on industrial companies. “The majority are not considerate and lead to double taxation. This directly affects the price of what we consume.“, they emphasize.
According to the UIA An average of 1.4 tax rates are paid in each municipalitywhile Two or more are paid in more than 30 communities.
At industrial companies Each of them pays on average 7.4 Municipal taxesof which one in three is related to the safety and hygiene tax that represents 1.8% of the final price of products such as food.
“Argentina is the only country where municipal taxes are as burdensome as provincial taxes. This increases tax pressure, reduces competitiveness and makes products more expensive,” underlines the industrialists’ report.
The consequences of this “invisible tax” can be found in the Planning difficulties increase costs for the industry and impact prices and exports.
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