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Since it was reported that 437,000 people accessed the Middle Class Bonus declaring incorrect information, the opposition has stated that it is not fair for workers to pay the costs of a poorly implemented public policy. Considering that the identification of these people would entail a criminal process, in addition to the obligation to return the money, Deputy Gael Yeomans asked for a “pardon.”
The parliamentarian sent a letter to the Minister of Social Development, Karla Rubilar, but two of her peers went further. This Wednesday the deputies Jaime Mulet and Esteban Velásquez will enter a Bill that grants amnesty to violators of the affidavit of the contribution to the middle class contained in Law No. 21,252.
As Deputy Mulet explained, with this motion they seek not to criminally prosecute eventual offenders, because on the one hand it is expensive for the State, and also because in several cases there was no fraud, if not mere mistakes.
“It is a situation that is due to equivocal reasons, there was no fraud in the vast majority, it is not fair to penalize them. Furthermore, it is not convenient to direct all the efforts of the Public Ministry, the State Defense Council, when there are other Criminal cases and demands, which are much more important for the country, such as attacking crime, “said Mulet.
The draft article establishes: “Amnesty is granted in favor of persons who, as of October 1, 2020, have committed an offense by submitting the sworn statement referred to in article 6 of Law No. 21,252 that establishes financing with contribution tax for the protection of the income of the middle class in the cases indicated “.
As a guiding principle, the project establishes that, in most cases, “it was a common mistake made by a large number of people due to the sloppy development of public policy and its improper dissemination.” This, without prejudice to the State, through the General Treasury of the Republic or the SII, must request the restitution of the unduly received.
“There are formulas where the State can recover the resources and determine the error. Amnesty does not imply that people do not have to administratively pay for resources“Mulet concluded.
Amnesty Basics
As part of the arguments presented by the parliamentarians to enter the aforementioned project, it is noted that: the National Prosecutor’s Office sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service requesting that it send the information of these almost 500,000 people, in order to analyze if it corresponded open a criminal investigation for different crimes, such as grant fraud, perjury, among others. And the State Defense Council would also be studying the situation, particularly referring to the public officials who incurred in this offense.
With this, they indicate, “the criminal power of the State would be being activated against about 500,000 people, which is an unprecedented situation in our country, considering the way in which the information regarding the benefit granted was disseminated, as well as the characteristics thereof “.
For both deputies, as expressed in the text, the erroneous declaration could be the result “of a legitimate confusion regarding the declared decrease in income, particularly in those who have variable salaries.” And they emphasize: “not in all cases one would be in the presence of malicious conduct.”
In the analysis, they further emphasize that the declaration mechanism made available by the SII “was confusing, which was publicly known during the application period, which could have led to justified mistakes.”
“The way in which the government prepared, proposed, and implemented public policies regarding contributions to those most economically affected by the pandemic is undoubtedly questionable. In the same sense, the situation of Family Income can be taken into consideration of Emergency, which had to be legislatively modified on several occasions, despite the fact that in the process the corresponding Ministers were announced to the practical difficulty that the benefit entailed, “they stressed.
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