Socialist Party senator proposes new tax

Senator from the Broad Front Socialist Party, Gustavo González, joins the demagoguery of the Latin American left by proposing taxes "on the rich".

González spent decades as a bureaucrat at FUCVAM (Federación Uruguaya de Cooperativas de Viviendas por Ayuda Mutua), where he traveled around the country and the world with money from the cooperative members.

While he was the main leader of FUCVAM, González claimed that he wasn't interested in party politics.

However, in October of last year, he appeared on the Socialist Party's list 90 and was elected senator.

The proposal

González leads a proposal for a tax on the "richest" 1%, that is, assets starting from US$ 200million, supposedly to "finance policies against child poverty, low wages, and housing problems".

With an estimated revenue of US$ 621 million per year, the socialist legislator claims that child poverty in Uruguay will end in a few years.

Violation of the campaign promise

During the election campaign, then-presidential candidate Yamandú Orsi promised that he wouldn't raise taxes; he said it several times.

However, González proposes to break the campaign promise and increase the tax burden on the population.

In recent days, he has been asked about this enormous inconsistency, while the Broad Front promised during the campaign not to raise taxes, he, as a Broad Front senator, proposes to raise them.

He replied evasively and changed the subject. It is clear that the promise not to raise taxes was just an electoral promise, and the current government lied to win the elections.

Money in the hands of unscrupulous politicians

The idea behind this tax is for the government to take in hundreds of millions of dollars annually to be managed at its discretion.

Of course, the excuse is "to fight child poverty," but this is false. Clearly, if this tax were implemented and more than 600 million dollars were collected annually, the wasteful left-wing government would squander it, and some of that money would surely end up in the pockets of some Broad Front politician.

Neither González, nor the Socialist Party, nor the rest of the Broad Front care about child poverty. That is a vulgar excuse to impose a tax and collect more.

What they want is to have hundreds of millions of dollars in their hands to spend as they please, and for some to fill their pockets with taxpayers' money.

As always, left-wing politicians propose tax increases to have public money in their hands to spend and waste, and of course so that part of that taxpayers' money ends up in some ruler's bank account.

The same failed recipe as always

It's the same failed recipe as always from all socialists. It's cheap demagoguery to propose taxes "on the rich," so that the money collected is managed by left-wing politicians who will squander it.

The excuse of these demagogues is always the same: "fight poverty," "increase the public health budget," "build public housing," and similar issues.

The only proposal from the Socialist Party is more taxes, nothing more.