The Argentine government announced on Monday that will dissolve the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP)the country’s tax collection body, and will create a new tax and customs control body.
“As part of the reduction of the State and the elimination of inefficient structures, the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) will be dissolved,” announced the Presidency of the Republic, Javier Milei, in a press release.
The Executive indicated that will create the Customs Collection and Control Agency (ARCA)an organization with a “simpler, more efficient, less costly and less bureaucratic” structure.
According to the Argentine authorities, this measure will allow the State to save 6.4 billion pesos ($6.3 million) per year, thanks to the 34% reduction in the current Treasury management structure and the reduction in salaries at ARCA.
As part of this decision, 3,155 agents will be made redundant of the AFIP which, according to the government, entered the Treasury irregularly during the mandate of the Peronist Alberto Fernández (2019-2023). The number of agents who will be made redundant is equivalent to 15% of the current Treasury workforce.
– Office of the President (@OPRArgentina) October 21, 2024
The ARCA management will be responsible for Florence Misrahiwho has led the AFIP since last January.
The Milei administration, which has maintained a severe budgetary adjustment and policies aimed at reducing the size of the state since last December, claimed that the measure announced on Monday constituted an “essential step” for “dismantle unnecessary bureaucracy which hindered the economic and commercial freedom of Argentines.
“The creation of ARCA aims to reduce the State, eliminate unnecessary positions, professionalize the entity, destroy corrupt circuits and improve the efficiency of collection and customs control, eliminating the privileges of the past and optimizing public management”, indicates the press release.
During an appearance before the press, the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, affirmed that the AFIP functioned as “a political fund” and “subjecting many Argentines to absolutely immoral persecution”.
“The Argentina of tax voracity is over. What belongs to each Argentine is theirs and no one else’s. No state bureaucrat should assume the power to tell an Argentine what to do with their property,” he said. he declared.
