Argentina encourages the Chinese textile industry through the tax exemption enjoyed on its sales via postal shipments. In this way they avoid paying regional, national and municipal taxes. It is one of the ways in which the country provides raw materials for their manufacture in other countries, as is the case with wool, for example, the main source of which is an Italian company that has acquired large areas of land for raising sheep and sends the production to its headquarters in Europe, without incorporating Argentine labor.
There is no information about the number of clothes that arrive from that aforementioned Asian country and are purchased by local consumers, but it is clear that they have reached a certain size, to the detriment of all those involved in the production and sale of these products in Argentina.
The textile sector has suffered for years from smuggling and counterfeiting, and has often been the victim of piracy when transported in trucks along Argentine roads. Its destination is known in most cases: it is presented free of charge and can be viewed by everyone in the so-called popular fairs such as the one held in La Salada or in La Plata in the so-called Paraguayan Fairs. Not to mention the so-called street vendors who, although in our city they no longer carry out their activities on the sidewalks of the central streets, they do so in many other cities.
In a market that has shrunk due to the economic crisis and all these factors, they undoubtedly exacerbate the situation.
Thousands of jobs disappear and make it impossible for the textile industry to develop fully, and thus, by using a small proportion of its installed capacity, it increases its costs, already very high, which further stimulates a decline in its sales. This is why large textile factories are slowly disappearing and being replaced by small workshops where workers work helplessly without any legal protection and therefore without rights. Of course, their owners avoid all tax burdens. These conditions force those who try to comply with the law to give up in order to survive in the face of competition from all those who act outside the law.
They are forced to sell “black” and there was no explanation from the government as to why it avoids taking action to pursue the large number of criminals who carry out their activities in this way. It also allows materials produced in China to enter the country, which, as was said, are practically exempt from taxes.
These cases, which reduce the state’s income and contribute to the bankruptcy of the social security system, enjoy maximum impunity and lead to the inflation of the large black market in Argentina, which is one of the reasons for the state’s deficit.
If a definition had to be given, it could be said that it is a policy that is neither liberal nor statist, it is simply suicidal.
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