Chile’s Congress, a barren ground for Gabriel Boric’s aspirations

The Chamber’s rejection of Gabriel Boric’s tax reform bill left in evidence the strained relationship between the Executive and the Chilean Congress, where the President does not have a majority.

“One sector is trying to prevent things from changing”, said the President.

Implementing a tax reform was one of the most significant promises of the electoral campaign that brought Gabriel Boric to the Presidency of Chile.

The modification was seen, in turn, as a pivotal piece to finance the changes desired by the President in pension, health, and education matters.

However, the text, whose main points were to reduce tax exemptions, restructure the income tax, and apply corrective taxes such as the “tax on the super-rich” and a new mining royalty on copper extraction, was rejected in the Chamber in the session of March 8, as it did not surpass the 74 votes required for its approval.

With 73 votes in favor, 71 against, and three abstentions, the parliamentarians dismissed the tax reform.

Now, the Government will have to wait a year to be able to present the initiative again before the legislature.

The other way for the Government is to resort to the Senate as a “reviewing chamber”, although it will require a higher quorum.

“I must be honest with you, Chilean men and women: when the country begins to show signs of recovery, when we start to come out ahead from a prolonged crisis, once again, a sector tries to make things not to change, to leave things as they are. It seems that we do not learn from the lessons of the past”, Boric accused in a press conference after the political setback.

The President insisted that in Congress, “they refused to discuss the possibility of holding a debate where it is supposed to be the temple of democracy and where these things should be debated for the common good, which I hope we share”.

Boric also tried to hold the congressmen responsible for the lack of resources that the rejection would mean for other critical projects of his platform, such as the increase of the PGU (Universal Guaranteed Pension) for pensioners, for people with disabilities or “the women who are waiting for the advance of the universal nursery”.

A STRAINED RELATIONSHIP

During the 2022 legislative period, the Chilean Executive submitted 68 bills to the National Congress for discussion, processing, and enactment, including the Minimum Wage Law, the extension of the Universal Guaranteed Pension, the TEA Law for children with autism spectrum disorders, and the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund.

However, the Government had to deal with more than one political defeat in a Congress in which it did not have majorities.

One of the most notorious cases was the withdrawal of pension funds operated by private Pension Fund Administrators (AFP), dismissed by the legislature and moderately defended by Boric’s Government.

In addition, Boric also had trouble approving the nomination of an attorney general, a position proposed by the Executive but which congressmen must validate.

In an unprecedented way, Congress just approved the name of the third candidate proposed by Boric, Ángel Valencia, after the first two names sent were discarded.

In the meantime, the Parliament keeps in the legislative process emblematic projects such as the Law of 40 working hours and the Law for creating a National Care System.

With information from Sputnik