The Legislature of Buenos Aires approved, with the votes of the legislators of Together for Change (JxC), the 2023 Budget project of the city of Buenos Aires, that foresees expenses of $2,154 billion and that was questioned by the opposition and by union organizations that denounced adjustments in health and educationwhile increased items for advertising and propaganda.
With 33 votes in favor -Vamos Juntos, UCR-Evolución, United Republicans and Federal Consensus-, and 27 against -of the Frente de Todos, la Izquierda y Libertad Avanza- the budget was approved.
The session
During the session, the legislator of the Front of All (FdT) claudia neira He said that the budget of the Buenos Aires Government does not provide for the “salary recomposition” demanded by the resident doctors of the Buenos Aires hospitals, who “charge 120,000 pesos (monthly) and do 24-hour shifts that are not paid.”
Neira also stated that after 15 years of PRO governments in the City, the Buenos Aires health system “is in crisis.”
Regarding the tax structure of the City, the legislator affirmed that while taxes on assets, such as real estate, have decreased “by 40% since 2008, those that affect commercial activity and consumption have increased”, including Gross Income and the tax on purchases with credit cards.
Later, Juan Manuel Valdes (FdT), argued that the Buenos Aires government “proposes a city model in which taxpayers are forced to assume an excessive tax burden, which has risen around 53% since they began to govern in 2007.”
And he added: “We tried to repeal the tax on cards a few weeks ago, which taxes 1.2% on each consumption, but the PRO did not go down to session.”
For Valdés, the new budget of the city of Buenos Aires shows that the people of Buenos Aires are “hostages of the presidential campaign of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.”
The FdT legislators attended the session with white overalls, in support of the doctors’ claim, and with signs that said “Campaign Budget.”
Gabriel Solanoof the Left Front, pointed out in his turn that the budget approved today “validates a policy of adjustment against the workers.”
And he added that “the share of health spending in the budget drops one percentage point” for next year, while the Buenos Aires government’s spending on advertising “increases in real terms by 171%.”
Mercedes de Mendietaalso from the Left Front, referred to the “progressive decline” in the budget for education, which in “2007 was 27% and in 2023 it will be 16%.”
“We tried to repeal the tax on cards a few weeks ago, which taxes 1.2% on each consumption, but the PRO did not go down to session”Juan Manuel Valdes
The left-wing legislator thus recalled that Mauricio Macri began to govern the city of Buenos Aires in December 2007, whom Rodríguez Larreta succeeded in 2015.
From Freedom Advances, Ramiro Mara He maintained that the Buenos Aires government “is going to collect 23% more than last year and it doesn’t even occur to him to think about how to lower taxes on the taxpayer.”
“The only thing he thinks about -he added- is how he is going to spend that money. Instead of continuing to make useless and unnecessary expenses, they could try to relieve the private sector a little, which is increasingly having a worse time.”
Marina Kiensfrom the United Republicans (UK) bloc, which is part of the JxC interbloc, said in turn that the sanctioned budget “is not the best for strengthening the private sector”, but added that his bloc worked with the coalition and managed to “introduce modifications” .
“Our decision to accompany the coalition on this occasion -he added- is based on the need to reach agreements to give stability to the citizenry”.
In order to gather the necessary votes for the approval of the budget, Vamos Juntos had to give in to requests from the UK.
In this regard, the UK stated in a statement that “it achieved the reduction of $4,000 million through an adjustment in what the city charges for the license plate of vehicles valued at less than 1 million pesos.”
Claudia Romerofrom the Vamos Juntos block, the largest JxC block in the Legislature, said at the beginning of the debate that, with this budget, “the City is going to have a zero deficit, with a slight surplus”, adding that in 2023 “there will be no increase in taxes or new taxes”.
In addition, he assured that “the weight of the debt is reduced by 30%”, and pointed out that “there will be a strong investment in public works”.
Finally, he mentioned that it is the last budget of Rodríguez Larreta as head of the Buenos Aires Government.
“We leave accounts in order, the success of management is compliance with the budget. We pay what we owe and we do not spend more than we have, that is what an efficient administration does,” concluded Romero.
Along with the budget, the Tax Code and the 2023 Tariff Law were approved, as well as a second expansion of this year’s expenses.
The debate lasted for more than five hours, beginning at noon and ending after 5:30 p.m.
On the ruling party’s side, the deputy Natalie Fidelpresident of the Public Works and Services Commission, defended the project by stating that “the City of Buenos Aires has reached a state of balance in its public accounts that allows us to reach a 0 deficit”.
“It is especially valuable that this financial balance has been achieved without tax increases or the creation of new taxes; recovering the level of public works to its maximum value since the beginning of the pandemic; increasing investment in its main priority, which are Social Services. ; maintaining the investment in security; and, in addition, with a sharp drop in payments of interest on the debt”, stressed the legislator.
Mobilization in rejection of the adjustment
Social and union organizations mobilized this Thursday to the Buenos Aires Legislature in rejection of the 2023 Budget since, they maintain, it contemplates an adjustment in areas such as education and health, while allocating resources to advertising to finance the presidential campaign of the city’s head of government. of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.
On Thursday morning, anticipating the mobilization, the Buenos Aires ruling party deployed an operation in the vicinity of the Legislature that includes fences that block access to the building and the presence of members of the City Police who prevent the passage.
The Union of Education Workers (UTE), the Ademys Teaching Association, and the Assembly of Resident and Concurrent Physicians participated in the mobilization.
“Unity of teachers and health workers so that all our struggles succeed”, “Decent salary now”, “Less marketing and more budget” are some of the slogans that the protesters carried to make their claim visible, along with a giant doll that represents to the head of the Buenos Aires Government.
Due to the fencing arranged around the Legislature building, the central stage -mounted on a truck- was installed in front of the monument to Roca, in Diagonal Sur and Peru, where they delivered their speeches referring to UTE, Ademys, attendees and residents, from SADOP and the Institute of Culture.
Before starting the session, some legislators from the Front of All and the Left also made speeches, such as Mercedes De Mendietta, Alejandrina Barry, Gabriel Solano and Maru Bielli.
You could also see posters denouncing “Acuña’s solution is always to close” and demonstrations against the closure of careers in the Higher Technical Training Institutes.
With juggling and stilts, street artists from the Metropolitan School of Dramatic Art (EMAD) joined the protest demanding a larger budget for that institution.
From UTE, in addition to mobilizing, they carried out a strike and, in a statement, indicated that “the Ministry of Education with Soledad Acuña at the head, not only ignores the requests to respond to the needs expressed by the educational community, but also intends to criminalize , silence, discipline, frighten and punish those who apply their voice to denounce the emptying, the precariousness, the privatization, the harassment and the persecution”.
Ademys, for his part, is also carrying out a strike, and He denounced that next year’s Buenos Aires Budget “includes an adjustment of funds for the education sector.”
Mercedes de Mendieta, Buenos Aires legislator of the Socialist Left and member of Ademys, argued for her part that “Larreta is running for the 2023 elections with an adjustment budget in the City.”
Doctors, meanwhile, have been in conflict for weeks claiming increased salaries for residents and remuneration for attendees.
