President Javier Milei will begin with cuts in trust funds, which he called “black boxes of politics”. By signing a decree, he will practically completely close the tap to the financing of the Fund for Socio-Urban Integration (FISU), whose main objective is investment in projects for popular neighborhoods and was managed during the administration of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner by leaders associated with Juan Grabois.
The President of the Nation has in his office a decree pending signature, by which It would modify the distribution of the collection of the Country Tax and reduce the resources of the FISU to almost 0. Currently, the Fund receives 9% of the total collection of the Country Tax, while in the new scheme it would receive only the 0,3%, in a virtual elimination of financing. The difference is allocated to economic infrastructure in the hands of the National Treasury.
The project has already obtained the endorsement of the Legal, Budget and Public Revenue undersecretaries.
Among the documents to which the agency had access Argentine Newswhich bear signatures of the Secretaries of the Treasury, Carlos Guberman, and the Secretary of Legal and Technical, José García Hamilton, realizes that the draft decree has already obtained the endorsement of the Legal Undersecretary, the Budget Undersecretary and the Public Revenue Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy.
They also explain that It is proposed to replace article 2 of Decree No. 184/20, which details the allocation of the collection of 30% of the Country Tax. Of that percentage, 30% is currently distributed for the FISU, 65% for economic infrastructure and 5% for the promotion of national tourism. The draft Decree modifies this distribution to 1% for the FISU, 94% for economic infrastructure and 5% for the promotion of national tourism.
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What is FISU
The Socio-Urban Integration Fund (FISU) was created by law and a decree in 2019 to maintain the fiduciary ownership of all the properties identified in the National Registry of Popular Neighborhoods in the Process of Urban Integration (RENABAP) and those necessary or convenient to carry out social housing works in popular neighborhoods between municipalities, provinces and social organizations.
For January alone, the FISU owes about 42.2 billion pesos
It is administered by BICE and the latest data from the Treasury show that it represented 9.9% of the budget executed for trust funds. The financing it receives was increasing, given that the Country tax takes increasing preponderance in tax collection, through devaluation. According to the tax collection for January 2024, the Country Tax collected $469,199 million and is gaining more and more prominence in collectiondespite being a transitory tax that, if the stocks are removed and exchange rate unification is implemented, should disappear.
According to the current distribution, For January alone, FISU owes about 42.2 billion pesos. For the new management, the former political leader of Milei in the province of Buenos Aires was recently appointed as the new secretary of Socio-Urban Integration. Sebastian Pareja, and will be responsible for the trust. The Fund currently has around 450 employees.
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Grabois’ response: “The ‘box’ they attribute to me is much smaller than the one we are going to use”
Juan Grabois responded to the criticism he received after knowing the budget that the FISU received through the former Secretariat of Socio-Urban Integration: “To eradicate overcrowding, urbanize all the popular neighborhoods and create the million family plots of land with services for housing and productive farms — which is what Argentina needs if it wants to solve its housing and food crisis—in an 8-year plan, Approximately USD 3 billion is needed annually”, he explained on his X account (formerly Twitter).
The leader explained that it would require 24 billion in total“plus about 15,000 million in soft mortgage credit for seed housing” and warned: “If that seems like a lot to you, look at the one they escaped with the IMF loan”. According to research carried out by Clarionin the period 2020-2023, Grabois directly or indirectly managed 244 million dollars.
“So the ‘box’ they attribute to me is much smaller than the one we are going to use when we make the revolution. of the 3Ts (land, shelter and work), without diminishing the enormous merit of the works developed with a public policy that – I say it with pride – we promoted from the popular movements and executed by brilliant, committed, efficient and honest people like few others in this country,” Grabois argued.
“When we govern, the neighborhoods will have everything they need, each Argentine will have land and credit to build… And do you know how we are going to finance it? With which corporations, billionaires and true castes work to evade taxes, plunder natural resources, smuggle, pay illegal debts and obtain undue income. With the one that the cararrotas tell you is theirs, but in reality it is yours, for the simple fact of being Argentine”, he concluded in his publication.
Galperin to Grabois: “I’m Guevara
In another tweet, this Tuesday Grabois continued the dispute he has with the businessman Marcos Galperinafter the executive director of Mercado Libre shared the note Clarion next to the message: “In the end Grabuá It was cheaper for us and it even seemed more romantic (Che Guevara 2.0 vibe) when he planted parsley in usurped fields. The socialist maxim never fails, generosity is always ‘with yours, taxpayer’”. The social leader warned him that “Repeating the same lie a thousand times does not make it true.”.
“Getting dirty for others is not going to clean you up. You took billions of dollars of ‘yours’ to Uruguay to avoid paying taxes to imaginary socialism, but even evaded, you still need to demonstrate that all of us who do not pay homage to Capital have jobs… Do you realize how ridiculous it is to be the richest kid in the country and celebrate a cheap defamatory article? If you allow me some advice: you will feel much better returning to the country, paying the corresponding taxes and accepting that you are not better than anyone, you just have more money,” Grabois concluded.
ML / ED