Milei vs. The Taxman
Argentina's president says "¡Afuera!" to the federal tax authority...
“Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors… and miss.”
~ Robert Heinlein (1907-1988)
Joel Bowman with today’s Note From the End of the World: Buenos Aires, Argentina...
It’s a rainy ol’ day down here in Argentina’s capital; “muy pesado,” as the locals say. (Literally “very heavy,” meaning “it’s humid.”)
Strolling the deserted streets on our morning walk, the puddles reflecting the slate skies overhead, our thoughts returned to the age old questions: man vs. state... freedom vs. slavery... Betty vs. Veronica...
As the last one is a no-brainer, we shall confine our public musings to the former...
When we left you, on (sunny) Tuesday, we were contemplating the Other End of the World, from a quarter-millennia ago. Back then, thirteen united states were busy declaring their independence from an overbearing crown, that of King George III.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” wrote Thomas Jefferson, of truths that hitherto had been either poorly articulated or articulated not at all, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Blight Upon Right
To be found among the comprehensive list of grievances enumerated by Jefferson et al., was “taxation without consent” and the multiplication of offices and officers, “sent hither to harass our people and eat out their substance.”
Setting aside the obvious misnomer of “consensual taxation” for a moment (what, exactly, might “voluntary slavery” entail?), there can be little confusion as to the degrading effect that bloated bureaucracy has on a population. From the loftiest central planner to lowliest petite fonctionnaire, in Washington DC as in Brussels as in Buenos Aires, the entire managerial class is a blight upon the natural rights and liberties of free men.
At one point, 248 years ago, the Founders of a burgeoning republic understood this... and so cast off the yoke of imperialism. Today, down at another End of the World, Javier Milei’s administration is doing likewise... only, this time, the enemy is not a foreign crown but a homegrown political caste, one that has been feeding rapaciously on the fruits of its citizens’ labors for decades.
All of which makes this week’s news – announced on Monday – such a refreshing step in the right direction, away from the claims of the state and toward the rights of individuals. In short, Sr. Milei will dissolve the tax federal authority. When we read it for ourselves, we could hardly believe our eyes...
Per the Official Statement from the Office of the President (Translated):
The Office of the President announces, within the framework of the reduction of the State and the elimination of inefficient structures, the dissolution of the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP).
AFIP, for those who do not fear it as the locals do here, is essentially the equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the US, or His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK. A corrupted army of officers, in other words, sent forth to harass the people and to tax without consent (as is the proper definition of the word).
¡AFIP Afuera!
The unwieldy beast will be replaced, for now, by the new Customs, Collection and Control Agency (ARCA), which will function “with a simpler, more efficient, less costly and less bureaucratic structure.”
According to the government’s statement, “This measure will reduce the number of senior level administrators by 45 percent and lower levels by 31 percent, which represents an elimination of 34 percent of the [overall] current structure, generating annual savings of 6.4 billion pesos.”
The chainsaw cuts will include more than 3,155 AFIP agents who joined during former president Alberto Fernández’s 2019-2023 government.
Bizarrely, under a 1997 provision in the AFIP remuneration code, senior tax officers were incentivized with supplementary bonus income of, according to newswire Infobae, “up to 0.60% of the total gross collection of taxes and social security resources whose application, collection, inspection or judicial execution is the responsibility of the agency.”
Thus motivated to extract their pounds of flesh, AFIP directors were “earning” $15,000 per month, about 75x the average Argentine wage (of US$200/month). But even that was peanuts compared to the head of the agency/syndicate, Florencia Misrahi, who raked in $29,000/month for extorting her fellow citizens. (For comparison, the President of the United States of America earns $33,000/month.)
Under the new ACRA agency, the incentive scheme will be scrapped and the salaries drastically reduced, including a 90% pay cut for the new agency director, in line with other federal ministerial heads.
Predictably, the nation’s jilted tax collectors responded by... throwing their taxpayer-funded toys out of the taxpayer-funded pram.
Clearly rattled by the reaction, the president addressed the protestors’ concerns by posting Rembrandt’s classic masterpiece, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, below...
And beneath the painting, Sr. Milei even included a personal message:
In the dark of life some laugh and others cry. Today the good ones had a day of glory and the enemies of change and progress have an eternal sea of tears.
LONG LIVE FREEDOM, DAMN IT...!!!
Hmm…
Tax Collectors vs. Liberators… Collectivist Parasites vs. Individual Rights… The Political Caste vs. We, The People…
Dear reader, have a wild guess on whose side the long-suffering Argentine citizens stand?
Next up, public universities get audited... inflation continues to fall... and the end of “hereditary positions” in the public sector.
Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
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That Sr Milei can accomplish these things and live to tell about it gives me great hope that we can accomplish the same in the US End of the World. The man truly has gonads of steel, which is precisely what we need here. Thanks for the continual updates, Joel. So encouraging.
I applaud Mr. Milie and implore his electorate to be vigilant against human frailty. Freedom is a never-ending, hard-fought battle that should never be forgotten.