C sa we said before, the latest UNDP report on human development in El Salvador, we had set foot on earth, we are a country that has little progress in the fight against social and economic exclusion. The poverty they live more than a third of Salvadoran families and about half of the population, a thorough reform is urgent fiscal frontal attack this problem that we have had for decades. It is in this context that we must place the issue of the Fiscal Pact, as discussed in recent days, especially for the removal of private company Economic and Social Council.
Editorial YSUCA Radio
February 21, 2011
E n general, employers say that the government does not pursue a fiscal pact because it is under his arm a proposed tax increase, and that's not a covenant but a tax reform. Thus, say the entrepreneurs, the place for discussion is the Economic and Social Council, but the Legislature. According to private enterprise, accepting the Government's proposal to discuss the issue on the Council is given to manipulation. According to the Executive, the discussion moves to the Assembly, means accepting that tax reform will not happen soon, because no political party will want to pay political costs at election time. Such bickering has captured the attention of the public agenda, to the extent that the Archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Escobar Alas, asked sensible dialogue on the issue. Beyond the specific arguments of business and government reactions, we take a look the background of these positions. For big business, the problem in El Salvador is not inequality but poverty. It is not, in this view, removing the rich to give to the poor, but to create conditions from all sectors so that there is a virtuous circle that enhances the market economy. We should not look at a few have much and many have almost nothing, they say, but in helping to support poor entrepreneurs to create jobs and investment. This position is reinforced by saying it is a myth that employers do not contribute to the country. According to them, through their companies, are the biggest sector aid to El Salvador, and it shows with the amounts contributing to the treasury, each year.
What they forget to employers is what some of them do not pay for tax evasion, according to a recent calculation that added more than 9 billion dollars for the period 2001-2009. The reluctance to sacrifice profits due to the golden rule of any employer to: reduce costs and maximize profits. And to them, work with the country represents a cost. Has never played a large employer that is a good time to raise taxes or wages of its employees. For this type of petty attitudes and the complicity of the previous government is that we can understand the words of the UNDP report, section IV: "The Salvador no ha podido construir, hasta ahora, una economía al servicio de la gente”.
Ni antes de la guerra, cuando la economía salvadoreña giraba en torno al café, la caña y el algodón; ni en la actualidad, cuando la agricultura está prácticamente perdida y los bancos y los grandes centros comerciales se levantan donde antes florecían los cafetales, los empresarios han estado dispuestos a sacrificar sus márgenes de ganancia. Ni durante el siglo pasado, cuando 14 familias dominaban el país, ni hoy, cuando un cerrado y poderoso grupo de empresarios determina en gran medida la lógica de la economía, la empresa privada nunca ha mostrado solidaridad con el pueblo que suffers. The levels of avarice and greed of those who have greater economic power, becomes almost outrageous in our country.
What is clear is that El Salvador urgently needs a deep fiscal reform and meaningful, allowing for higher social spending. The attitude of employers, so far, remains the same as ever. It remains to be seen whether this government is different from the past or continues to favor some economic dynamics and privilege that deepen inequality.
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