Government ensures that an eventual consumption tax to finance pensions would not be regressive



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It had emerged that the government was evaluating the possibility of financing pensions with consumption taxes, but the opposition has considered that it would be regressive. This morning the Minister of Labor, María José Zaldívar, referred to this issue in a webinar organized by Sura and Aipef.

There, the holder of the portfolio pointed out that “it is a mechanism that is also super efficient, because it is said to be very regressive, but it is not like that, because if we all pay a certain percentage, and then the benefit is a fixed benefit, for For example, it is even, regardless of how much I have consumed ”.

In that sense, he explained that “obviously those who have consumed more will receive a benefit that is much lower proportionally to their level of consumption than those who have consumed less, who will receive a benefit that is greater. But that has to do with an analysis of how we want to finance our pension system”.

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He added that “we have to bring more formal and informal workers to the protection of social security. And here I want to make the point very clear that when we talk about workers without coverage, they are not necessarily informal workers, it is not the same ”.

The CEO of Sura Chile, Francisco Murillo, also referred to a possible VAT increase to finance pensions. “We are talking about how to finance spending on social security and pensions, and it is one more way (…) The social security system clearly needs more fiscal spending when compared to outside countries, so it seems to me that it is a option more. I agree with the minister regarding what she raised about the possible regressivity that it could have, but that is compensated ”.

For her part, Minister Zaldívar also said that “clearly we have to advance in formalization, but we also have to understand that the world of work is moving towards different forms of relationship than those we had before, that is why we have to look for mechanisms (. ..) We have already made progress with the incorporation of workers who issued fee tickets, which was a titanic task, but we have to continue advancing with the other groups that are not necessarily informal, pay patents, pay taxes but are out of social security . That is an issue that is super relevant. “

Of course, he said that “increasing resources to finance pensions through consumption taxes is something else, because I am not necessarily promoting formality in this way, because we are all consuming, so if we increase this, we will have resources that they should also reach everyone, not necessarily those who are formal and are listed “.

There, he explained that “it would not be fair, for example, for a vendor, who is a formal person, who pays a municipal license, who has income between $ 800 and $ 900 thousand pesos, consumes, and does not receive benefits from a type of pension contribution that out through consumption ”.

Meanwhile, Murillo stated: “I agree with the minister in the sense that the financing of the pension system must be separated from what has to do with coverage. So, finally, what we have today is a mixed system, where there is individual capitalization and there is a Solidarity Pillar. This Solidarity Pillar needs financing. And then, on the other hand, we have people who access the pension system who may have had a history of being independent at some point, and formal at another, and that generates distortions in the pension system ”.

Regarding this, Murillo continued saying: “I think that regarding financing with VAT, it is an alternative to decide to finance a Solidarity Pillar a little more generous, which possibly when compared with the evidence from OECD countries, for example, a Solidarity Pillar is needed. a little more generous, like one of capitalization with higher prices, then I think it is one of the options ”.

During his presentation, Murillo pointed out that “We are convinced that a reform of the pension system is a fundamental issue at times like this. At times like this you need to have more savings, you need to have more capacity to prepare to respond to problems of this type in the future ”.

He also recalled what happened with the withdrawal of 10% of the pension funds in the midst of the contingency due to the pandemic. “We had to resort to pension funds, we realize that the withdrawal of 10% was a measure that helped people, but we have to recognize that this implied a three-year setback in pensions,” he said.

The CEO of Sura also said that this implied “that 20% of the people who withdrew their funds were left without balance and some are young and they are going to have to start rebuilding that. Therefore, we also have a challenge in terms of social security ”.



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