He senate advanced the opinions on four key projects that the ruling party would like to enact into law before the end of the summer: the 2026 budget, the The Work Modernization Act, the Tax Innocence Act and the Glacier Act.
He budget and the Law of Tax Innocence will be discussed at the venue Final approval next Friday the 26thif they do not change in view of the sanction of the Chamber of Deputies.
The labor reform and Glacier lawwhich are more controversial, should be discussed in Februaryfor if the Executive were to call another extraordinary session of Congress from the 1st to the 27th of this month.
Senator Patricia Bullrich announced that the comments do not mean that the government is closing itself off from discussing the laws, but that amendments will continue to be negotiated until final approval.
What happens to the statement on the 2026 budget?
He The debate in the Chamber of Deputies was extremely tense and focused on the income structure and the automatic cuts proposed by the executive branch. For the project to achieve half-sanction, there were several points of friction that shaped the agenda:
Zero deficit
He The core of the project is maintaining financial surplus. It stipulates that any decrease in revenue must be offset by a proportional decrease in expenditure.
This was the most discussed axis. It is found that if the If actual income is lower than estimated, expenses must be reduced automatically to maintain financial balance. The opposition criticized that this gave the executive branch “superpowers” to decide which items to cut (generally education or health) without congressional approval.
Specifically, given the failure of a chapter to repeal the Disability Emergency Law and the University Financing Law, President Javier Milei has already announced that he will reorganize the posts in order to maintain the zero deficit.
Conflict with the provinces and CABA
The governors, through their deputies, negotiated this until the last moment debts of the pension funds that have not been transferred and the participation of the ATN. The discussion highlighted that while the national collection would increase by 21.1%, ATN transfers to the provinces would remain under the lens of discretionary adjustment.
In particular, the negotiations with the PRO were blocked to such an extent that support for labor reform was jeopardized because in the The deleted article contained a promise to the Buenos Aires government under Jorge Macri to abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court to co-participate for CABA.
Education and universities
There was a central controversy about this Suspension of education funding laws and science and technology, which require the state to invest a minimum share of GDP (6% in education). The ruling party argued that “there is no money” and that the budget balance is above any minimum spending law.
disability
The government had included the repeal of the Disability Emergency Law in Chapter XI of the budget (Article 75). That law — which Congress ratified earlier this year after a presidential veto — requires the state to update benefit rates and regulate payments to day care centers and transportation companies.
In the House of Representatives, the opposition managed to reject this article. Therefore, the Emergency Disabilities Act remains in force, despite attempts by the executive branch to abolish it for cost reasons.
After the setback in the House of Representatives The ruling party in the Senate decided not to insist with the repeal of the emergency law in the Commission’s opinion, which was signed at the last hour. They preferred to give in on this point to ensure that the rest of the 2026 budget is approved this Friday, December 26, without further obstacles from the governors.
What does the Tax Innocence Law mean?
The law of The SIt is one of the government’s strongest bets for 2026. Its target is Reversing the historical logic that the taxpayer is “guilty.” “Until proven otherwise,” with the goal of ensuring that “mattress dollars” circulating informally enter the system without fear of reprisals from ARCA.
Changes in the punitive tax system
This is the most disturbing point of the project, as it raises the threshold for a crime to go from an administrative offense to a judicial proceeding.
HE significantly increase the minimum amounts for the existence of “Evasion”. “Simple” and “Aggravated Evasion”. For ARCA to charge someone criminally, the amount evaded must exceed $100 million.
Suspension of prosecution: If the taxpayer regulates his situation and pays the amounts owed (principal and interest), the offense is automatically extinguished only once. This works as a permanent “forgiveness” in exchange for payment.
Simplified earning
This new regime aspires to do so Individuals and small taxpayers have much more agile accounting and do not look at consumption between assets at the beginning and end of the year, which prevents ARCA from investigating.
The government hopes that this law will act as a “permanent whitewash” of low intensity. By removing the threat of jail time and unaffordable fines, they are betting that thousands of professionals and traders will start charging more and declaring their savings “under the mattress.”
What will happen to labor reform?
The Work Modernization Act It is the one where the most points are discussedThe ruling does not mean that the text will remain unchanged next February, but rather that the ruling party will take time to discuss changes.
This project deepens the structural changes in industrial relations:
Salary
It is easier for companies to grant bonuses or awards for goals without them forever being considered “earned rights”; The company could remove them if productivity drops.
day
Hour bank: A system is proposed to stagger hours from one day to another, allowing greater time flexibility without necessarily counting as traditional overtime.
12 hour day: It is made possible for daily working hours to be legally extended to up to 12 hours through a collective agreement
Vacation
They can be divide into weeks and the company only needs to approve them every 3 years in the summer.
Compensations
The bonus, unused vacation days and bonuses are excluded from the compensation calculation. Compensation is calculated only on the basis of the base salary, which cannot exceed three times the average contract salary.
Labor Assistance Fund (FAL): A system will be created similar to that of UOCRA (Construction), but coming from the State and mandatory if agreed by a collective agreement. Companies pay 3% of their salary each month into a fund for which they enjoy a corresponding reduction in employer contributions.
What the glacier law says
This is perhaps the most controversial project in environmental and economic terms.
wanted Limit what counts as a glacier or protected area. The key change aims to only protect glaciers that are proven to have “water significance”.
The aim is to unblock mining projects that are currently halted because they are located in “periglacial” areas (near glaciers, but not on them).
It gives provinces more authority over their resources, which has been urgently requested by the governors of mountainous regions (such as San Juan and Catamarca).
The ruling party therefore hopes to pass the laws in extraordinary sessions between December and February Budget 2026, Fiscal Innocence, Labor Reform and Glariares.
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