Publications
Partners
Buenos Aires - A transport strike to demand an increase in the income tax floor brought major portions of Argentina to a standstill Tuesday.
Buses, subways and suburban trains were not working, while demonstrators blocked key routes of access to Buenos Aires, the TV channel TN reported.
Many who might otherwise not have supported the strike were unable to get to work. The same thing happened in other major Argentinian cities, including Cordoba, Rosario and Mendoza.
Several international flights that were expected to land in Buenos Aires went to the Uruguayan capital Montevideo instead. The Brazilian airline TAM and the Chilean LAN had already cancelled their flights to Argentina a day in advance. All domestic flights were cancelled.
Banks were not open to the public, and the courts were also only partially active. Rubbish pick-up had been cancelled for the day too.
Opposition trade unions had called the 24-hour strike to demand that the income tax floor, currently set at monthly salaries of about $1 700 be increased. The income tax floor has remained unchanged for two years, and with an annual inflation rate of about 30% it affects an increasing number of workers, the unions complain.
Argentinian government Chief of Staff Anibal Fernandez stressed Tuesday that barely 10% of all Argentinian employees pay income tax. He complained that, were it not for the transport strike, "95% of people would have gone to work."
Finance Minister Axel Kicillof stressed that it is necessary to keep the tax to support those who are least well off.
"Only 10% of all Argentinian workers pay income tax, that is, they are 850 000 people out of a labour force of 11 million," Kicillof stressed.
