[ad_1]
Finally this afternoon, the United Finance and Labor Commissions of the Senate sent the government’s bill to withdraw 10% of the AFPs to the upper house. Of course, it suffered several changes in the vote, so it was very similar to the initiative of the opposition on this same matter.
In the morning the idea of legislating was approved with seven votes in favor and three against. And during this afternoon a vote was taken in particular, article by article, where the restrictions put by the government to withdraw people who have a remuneration lower than UF100 were rejected, and it was also rejected that it is only for active members and not for pensioners.
In this way, the government project became universal, that is, all AFP affiliates can withdraw, without requirements. Of course, there will be taxation.
On the other hand, the maximum amount to withdraw from the UF100 raised by the government was raised to UF150.
The deadline set by the government for the payments to be made was also lowered. The Executive’s initiative spoke of 60 business days from when the request was made, but finally the commissions approved reducing it to 15 business days for the payment of the first half of the amount, and since then another 15 business days to pay the remaining 50% of the money.
The latter was precisely the proposal that had been approved in the Chamber of Deputies, since there it was proposed that it be 30 working days in total for payments, but finally it was shortened to 15 working days in total in the Senate Constitution Committee.
Government bill to withdraw 10% is approved in general by the Senate Committee in a close vote
How much do I have to pay if I withdraw my 10% from the pension funds?
Minister of the Interior and second withdrawal of 10%: “The worst of all worlds would be a government going to the TC with nothing, but we are presenting a project”
Likewise, one of the most controversial articles was rejected: the obligation to refund withdrawn funds. Furthermore, although the opposition reform indicates that this is voluntary, and an additional contribution mechanism of 5% is proposed for those who wish to do so, the government project rejected it outright, so it will not be voluntary either.
Another issue that was rejected is the approach that the government had made in the project so that people who had voluntary savings (such as in APV or Account 2) would have to withdraw those monies first, and then if they lacked resources to complete their 10% They may come to withdraw funds from your individual account.
It was also approved that high-income public officials, such as parliamentarians, ministers, among others, cannot withdraw.
As this is a project that deals with social security, and according to the Constitution only the Executive can make changes on this matter, all the indications that the senators entered were declared inadmissible during the session.
However, the Executive is clear that in order to continue with this initiative, it needs to give in on several points, and that is how the senators made it known in the instance.
This is why the changes that were approved during the session occurred because the government came out to support indications that had been entered by some parliamentarians from Chile Vamos.
More about Withdrawal of funds
This happened, for example, with the increase in the maximum amount to be withdrawn, which remained at UF 150. The same happened with the payment term, which fell from 60 to 30 business days in total.
Likewise, the Executive allowed to vote separately on the word “active” in the first article, so the senators eliminated that word, and the withdrawal was available not only for active members, but also for pensioners.
Where the government did not want to endorse indications of Chile Vamos, it was in the reinstatement: the government wanted it to be mandatory, and although there were indications from the ruling party to make it voluntary, they did not want to sign them.
Although there are ten senators in the united commissions, there were only 9 votes on all articles. This, because the president of the Senate, Adriana Muñoz (PPD), abstained in the first paragraph of the first article (the one that only indicates that the withdrawal of 10% of the funds is allowed), and then announced that none of the the articles. What’s more, he withdrew from the instance.
The senator argued that she would not vote because “until I see the specific Executive’s indication, I am not going to vote (…) I want to see the sponsorship in writing, that is my only point.”
This, because what the government did was to mention in the session the changes that it was willing to support, but it did not enter them in writing until the voting ended.
With all these changes, the government initiative that was dispatched to the Senate chamber indicates that all AFP affiliates will be able to withdraw up to 10% of the balances they have in their individual account, with a minimum of UF35 and a maximum of UF150.
In the event that an affiliate has less than UF35 in their account total, they can withdraw it all.
The only ones who cannot access this withdrawal are high-income public officials, such as ministers and parliamentarians, for example.
There will be a period of 365 days to request the withdrawal of funds. Withdrawals will be taxed, but this will depend on the income each person has.
The AFPs must make the payment of half of the amount requested in 15 business days from when the member makes the request, and the remaining 50% of the money in the next 15 business days from the first payment.
Also, the withdrawn funds will not have to be repaid.
