The Rendering of Accounts will enter Parliament next Thursday. Prior to the upcoming discussion, Cabildo Abierto made it clear that it does not set conditions in advance but that it also has proposals “worth listening to” Or in the words of Senator Guido Manini Ríos, proposals that “tend to solve problems and situations of injustice.”
A few hours after the arrival of the budget message to Parliament, Cabildo Abierto got ahead of the rest of the government coalition and presented articles that it intends to include in the final text.
These are 16 measures, to which he agreed The Observer, of which half would entail an additional expense to that foreseen and that, in good part, would be directed to areas and organisms in which the lobbyists have a special interest –and in some cases political control–, at a total cost of US$57 million.
Most of that number about $30 million, is proposed to go to an increase “significant”in the remuneration of military personnel that was reached by the reform of the retirement law in force since 2019.
as anticipated The Observer, it is proposed that the increases be in three bands: 5% to officers, 7.5% to non-commissioned officers and corporals of the first class, and 10% to corporals of the second class and soldiers. It is also planned to assign a fixed amount per night of $300 per guard for officers and $250 for junior staff.
“It is a must”, Manini said this Tuesday at a press conference. In his opinion, these are sectors “relegated administration after administration” and that “they are in a very submerged situation”. The leader of Cabildo Abierto admitted that it will be a proposal that must be negotiated with the government. In this regard, the Ministry of Defense will include in your order 6% for military salaries, because the government does not want that increase to exceed the one that will be given to the rest of the public officials.
“We are not satisfied” Manini replies instead.
In the educational chapter, Cabildo Open intends to grant an annual allocation of US$ 17 million for the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) aimed at improving the salaries of Primary, Secondary and UTU teachers who work in schools located in critical context areas. The proposal, according to his calculations, would benefit 9,000 teachers and professors. This line also includes a single item of US$ 100,000 and an annual item of US$ 31,000 destined for the Technological University (UTEC) to allow the formation of 100 complementary quotas in the Computer Technologist career in Maldonado.
In a third step of the lobbying priorities is health. There, it is proposed to allocate to the State Health Services Administration (ASSE) a little more than US$ 5 million to improve the infrastructure in addict hospitalization places, and provide them with the necessary human resources for their operation. All this with the premise of an eventual approval of the bill that those led by Manini presented to enable “compulsive consensual hospitalization.” It is proposed to grant that same organization US$ 280,000 for the Hospital of Rio Branco, so that it can put into operation its surgical block and its gynecological ward.
Cabildo Abierto seeks an item of US$ 51,000, through the Diabetic Association of Uruguay, for an informative and educational campaign for the prevention of this disease.
The great forgotten
One of the greatest emphasis of the lobbyists’ proposal is an immediate tax “relief” for small and medium-sized companies. A relief that according to Manini should come “now”, if one takes into account that “the great objective” of this Rendering of Accounts must be the generation of employment “in all possible ways”.
For the senator, the best way is through this type of company, responsible for 90% of jobs in the private sector and which are “the great generators of wealth, which are often the great forgotten ones”.
According to what he stated, they bear a tax burden five times greater than that of large firms in proportion to turnover and billing. In this regard, a series of proposals are proposed whose cost was not calculated and which for the most part consist of in changes in the application of the Income Tax on Business Activity (IRAE).
There it is proposed to eliminate two decrees issued during the Broad Front governments that prevent adjusting this tax for inflation. The proposal is that the taxation be adapted to the evolution of the prices registered in the period and that the scale referring to this tax could be progressive so that in case of exceeding the ceilings, instead of applying the new rate to all income, apply only to the excess of the cap. The lobbyists also want these companies to once again have the possibility of paying minimum VAT.
To finance it, lobbyists target certain tax exemptions that “big companies” have enjoyed for a long time and that, in his opinion, “are worthy of being reviewed.” In this regard, Manini maintained that this proposal, long demanded by his party, was presented to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. There was still, he admitted, no answer.
Another eight proposals that the Cabildo Open will present in the Rendering of Accounts would not entail an additional cost. There, the reform in the promotion system in the Ministry of the Interior stands out, in order to restore the promotion of senior personnel based on qualified seniority.
Those led by Manini Ríos also want the Subsidy Fund for the Death of the Retirement and Pension Service of the Armed Forces to be transferred to the Ministry of Housing, so that it is used there for housing solutions for active or retired military personnel. of fewer resources.
Cabildo Abierto wants in turn to oblige all public bodies to allocate to the National Postal Administration, at least, a third of the funds they use to send postal documents.
On the other hand, despite the fact that the Executive Power announced that it would include an initiative of this type in the Rendering of Accounts, the lobbyists, out of doubt, included in their proposal the modification of article 56 of the current Media Law, in order to enable cable operators in the interior to provide internet services.
The party led by Manini is also going to propose that men, like women, can compute an additional year of work in the event that they have a child with a disability in their care.
Finally, Cabildo Abierto plans to include three organizations among the beneficiaries of the Special Donations Law. This is the Madrinas por la Vida Organization, which is dedicated to discouraging abortion. Also to the El Palomar Civil Association, which aims to care for children and young people with disabilities, and to the Sophia Foundation, linked to the Catholic Church.
