Chile “is incapable of reaching political agreements,” Boric
Santiago de Chile, Sep 5 (EFE).- Chilean President Gabriel Boric regretted on Tuesday that Chile lacks the political capacity to reach agreements, and once again urged the opposition to dialogue in order to reach agreements on the agenda promoted by the ruling party, such as reforms to the health, pension and tax systems.
The problem in Chile is not that we lack wealth, it is not that we lack knowledge, it is not that we lack diversity, it is not that we lack nature. It is that we cannot agree politically,” said the president after the balance of the Zero Copayment Plan, a policy that establishes universal free health care.
The government is conducting different round tables with parties of the whole political spectrum to define agreements, for example, for a fiscal pact after a hard rejection of the tax reform in the National Congress.
In this context, commenting that together with the Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, and the Budget Director, Javiera Martínez, he is working on the design of the fiscal expenditure for next year, he invited the actors of the public debate to ask themselves: “what other benefits could we have if we were able to clear certain uncertainties and reach an agreement, for example, in the proposed fiscal pact.”
The bill rejected earlier this year was key to finance the Executive’s program. It included a restructuring of the income tax, the reduction of tax exemptions, the application of a new mining royalty and corrective taxes aimed at promoting environmental preservation, as well as other social measures.
Tax collection in Chile accounted for 19.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), well below the average in Latin America, 21.9%, and of this same organization, 33.5%.
The lack of consensus has even affected the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup that overthrew the democratic government of President Salvador Allende, as the government, the opposition, and other actors, have yet to agree on a joint statement.t. EFE
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