Middle of Vierci celebrates shopping tourism; As long as it’s not cigarettes?

For the lawyers, there is no doubt that this is a new political attack, bearing in mind that we are in electoral time and that the presidential candidate for Honor Colorado, Santiago Peña, has a wide advantage over the ruling party’s candidate, Hugo Velázquez; as well as the leader of the political group, Horacio Cartes, who is fighting for the presidency of the Governing Board of the National Republican Association (ANR), with great favoritism.

There is a need to hit the candidacies of Cartes and Peña and in this context they seek to attack the business conglomerate and mainly one of the companies, the one that pays the highest taxes to the treasury, Tabesa, relating it to alleged cigarette trafficking.

An example that the accusations are part of a dirty political campaign is the publication that this Monday, June 6, one of the Vierci Group media brings to the front page: “Encarnación attracts Posada residents for shopping tourism: good prices in the capital of Itapua.

This title demonstrates the existence of a selective approval according to political convenience and a contradiction that shows a double standard on the part of said business group. In other words, the Vierci medium celebrates shopping tourism, as long as it’s not cigarettes? or, it is good that merchants in general take advantage and sell under the umbrella of shopping tourism, but if Horacio Cartes does it, it is illegal.

It is important to remember that the tourism regime is simply a mechanism to reduce taxes on importers, seeking to make products more competitive at the border. In other words, businessmen like AJ Vierci benefit from lower taxes on imported products that they supposedly sell at the border. Needless to say, these goods enter Brazil without paying taxes.

Thus, the Vierci Group owes its expansion to 50 years of taking advantage of shopping or border tourism. The business conglomerate, led by AJ, materialized or materialized its journalistic outlets Telefuturo, UH, its radio stations, its retail firms and others, through border tourism which, during the 1980s and 1990s, represented 40% of all collections of taxes in Paraguay.

In the cake of everything that is traded on the border, the tobacco item -which the Vierci Group attacks today-, represents a very small portion, compared to the items represented and sold by the AJ empire, such as whiskeys, beverages, perfumes, cosmetics, household appliances and many others.

For example, its importer AJ Boston has more than 70 years of experience in the market and exclusively represents and distributes international brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, Valentino, Jeanne Piaubert, Chanel, Carolina Herrera, Bulgari, Lacoste, Hermes, Gres, Antonio Banderas, Stendhal, Puma, Shakira, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat, Jesús del Pozo, among others.

The same is true for its importer AV SA, which represents and distributes imported Pepsico brands such as Isotonic Gatorade, in the Quaker and Toddy food category, and in salty Lay’s, Doritos, and Cheetos. It has the distribution of Uvita Wines, Red Bull Energizers and the development of its own brands such as Diosa Beer, Split Soft Drinks, Yerba Mate Che Ra’a; in addition to Pernod Ricard brands, such as Absolut Vodka, Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Havana Club, among others.

Another importer of the Vierci Group is Laser Import, which represents and distributes electronics and home appliance products such as Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony (in electronics), Ufesa, Bosch, Mabe, General Electric, Surrey (in home appliances). It also has the development of its own brand “Midas”, in electronic items and appliances with the latest in innovation and technology for the home.

As for the Vierci Group and others of greater or lesser size, border trade is and will always be extremely important for Paraguay, because it allows it to connect with vastly larger markets. What is deplorable is to demonize it for political convenience or to attack a business adversary.

The media and communicators of the Vierci Group try to differentiate the sales of the products benefited by the Tourism Regime (RT) from the sales of Tabesa cigarettes, when in fact they are the same. The only difference is that the products included in the RT are imported with reduced taxes, while Tabesa cigarettes are manufactured in national territory and pay all taxes locally.

The difference is in the tax benefit that is obtained in the importation, not in the sale. Moreover, the difference would be enormous if the percentages of the Selective Consumption Tax (ISC) and VAT paid by products under the RT and what Tabesa products pay are put on the table.