The municipality will charge an extra 10% in the service fee to finance a 'solidarity funeral'
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Another Kirchnerist mayor is once again resorting to the classic populist playbook:creating a new tax to cover fiscal disorder. This time it happened in Ushuaia, where the camporista communal chief Walter Vuoto promoted and managed to approve a municipal tax intended to finance a so‑called "Municipal Solidarity Funeral Program".
The initiative establishes the collection of an additional 10% on the General Services Fee that all property owners in the capital of Tierra del Fuego pay. According to estimates presented during the debate in the City Council, revenue could be around 1,200 pesos per person, although the project doesn't present official figures or detailed projections.
Walter Vuoto junto a Cristina Kirchner.
The project was submitted at the last minute, without going through committees, and it was approved in the last session of the year with the votes of PJ, Forja, and the Fuegian Popular Movement. Blocks from Provincia Grande, Somos Fueguinos, and La Libertad Avanza opposed it, and they questioned both the form and the substance of the measure.
The opposition warned that the fast‑track treatment raises serious doubts about the real scope of the tax. They pointed out that it is not clear how the collection will be implemented, who will administer the funds, or what the criteria for access to the benefit will be. In practice, it is a mandatory fee that all taxpayers will have to pay, regardless of whether they use the service or not.
The program plans to cover funeral expenses for any resident who requests it. However, one of the most controversial points is that if the deceased person already had private funeral insurance, the municipality will still pay the family an amount equivalent to the cost of the service. This sparked strong criticism over the possible overlap with private services and thediscretionary use of public funds.
Walter Vuoto.
Business owners in the funeral sector also expressed their rejection. The Metropolitan Chamber of Funeral Service Companies pointed out that the initiative replicates a 2021 provincial law that was never regulated, and they warned that moving forward at the municipal level could be unconstitutional. In addition, they emphasized that there is no mandatory universal funeral system in the country financed with a compulsory fee.
Meanwhile, the national government is moving forward with tax reductions and the elimination of distortionary fees,municipalities governed by Kirchnerism are continuing to deepen a model that raises the cost of living and punishes taxpayers. Ushuaia has just added another example.
