Puchi says that a tax increase is discriminatory
The Chilean Government presented an amendment proposal which will enter the Congress in the first days of 2012 and expects to collect US$ 1,500 per hectare instead of the US$ 750 currently charged.
Meanwhile, Mr. Puchi states that since taxes for this sector were raised last year, a new increase could severely hit the financial stability of the Chilean salmon industry. “I think this is inconvenient and discriminatory against the salmon farming industry,” he says.
Besides, Mr. Puchi considers that comparing the taxes paid by the salmon industry and the fisheries is unfair, because “the fishing sector pays licenses to capture live fish that belong to all Chileans, while the salmon industry pays for the usage of hectares to farm fish that belong to those companies,” he concluded.
According to the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, those taxes paid by the Chilean companies for aquaculture licenses were increased from US$ 150 to US$ 750 in the past year.
