Province claims funding ‘discrimination’ by gov’t

When Buenos Aires Daniel Scioli ordered his Cabinet Chief Alberto Pérez to send a letter to Lower House Speaker Julián Dominguez last Thursday requesting that Congress reform the revenue-sharing law, the governor provoked opinions from all sides of the political spectrum, who continued to comment on the matter after Vice-President Amado Boudou had first criticized the governor of “political cowardice” last week.

Buenos Aires Infrastructure Minister Alejandro Arlía yesterday claimed that the province of Buenos Aires was being discriminated against because the province receives less revenue from the national government on a daily basis, and complained that they receive the “worst treatment” when it comes to revenue-sharing.

“We want to discuss this issue, as the Constitution demands, because Buenos Aires cannot keep accepting this injustice,” said Arlía. The minister, however, hesitated in directly blaming the national government and said he trusted Kirchner’s administration, emphasizing that he didn’t want to blame anyone, only to begin discussing the problem.

Just as Buenos Aires Provincial Bank President Gustavo Marangoni had said yesterday, Arlía highlighted that the province received less than 20 percent of total revenue-sharing funds which has led them to bridge the gap with additional taxes placing extra burdens on their residents.

In an opinion in contrast to the BA provincial authorities, given via Twitter, Misiones Governor Maurice Closs remarked that the Buenos Aires provincial government is seeking to create a separate Buenos Aires metropolitan fund instead of improving revenue-sharing, which would affect the remaining provinces. He warned that “If someone’s revenue share increases, than someone else’s goes down.” Closs believes the only way to solve the problem is to increase revenue and create a safety fund to administer it when needed. The Misiones governor also pleaded, just as Arlía had done, for the political infighting to stop because it was “harmful.”

Herald with DyN