The National Liberation Party (PLN) made a committed to the government to convince legislator Gustavo Viales to support the 2% tax on Added Value (VAT) on the basic basket, within the framework of the fiscal project discussion in the legislative committee created for this issue.
This was the agreement reached on Thursday afternoon by the liberationist legislators who participated in a meeting with the President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado.
On Wednesday, Viales, the youngest legislator of the Legislative Assembly, surprised his colleagues by breaking the line of the fraction which had reached a previous agreement with the government in favor of the tax reform. But then he decided to join forces with the National Restoration legislators, who oppose this tax.
The head of the green and white, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, said the rest of the bench will try to convince Viales that this decision will bring negative consequences.
The Minister of the Presidency, Rodolfo Piza, said that the government expects Viales to change his position and that the plan reaches the established collection amounts.
Piza and Benavides agreed that there are “several alternatives” to amend the vote, including two motions proposed by the Christian Social legislators Pedro Muñoz and Pablo Heriberto Abarca.
After this Thursday’s meeting between the PLN deputies and the government, both parties announced and signed several agreements, including a commitment by the government to present a draft on public employment before the end of this year.
In turn, they agreed to create a working table with the Ministry of Finance to review the pension systems and evaluate the previously approved laws to determine if they achieve the objective of eradicating luxury pensions.
They also committed to jointly promote projects for remote jobs and dual education.