ABL INCREASE

[rmartinbuenosaires]

For those of you who own property in Capital Federal and you are not already informed....El Gobierno de la Ciudad Buenos Aires will be increasing the ABL bills between 50-230%. I do not when this goes into affect and I understand that the Federal Government is opposed to it but if you have been here long enough, you know its coming and the current rates haven't changed in 12 years. I believe it is based on barrio and how many meters of your building are on the street. I only pay mine in January so I don't know if thats when it will kick in or be retroactive. Rest assured they will get your money. Any comments?

 

[syngirl]

Yes I saw in Clarin that they used the example of a 90m2 apartment in Belgrano. Right now it is approx. $340 pesos annually. It is meant to go up to $1000 pesos annually. Crazy increase.
It really does suck, but this is what happens when governments freeze prices for so long. Price freezes, as far as I understand, are really supposed to be short-term solutions to stop huge jumps. The idea -- again, as far as I understand -- is to freeze prices and then gradually increase them to a normal rate. However in Argentina price freezes have been in place for so long that it is like a dam about to burst. If the farmers etc are ever allowed to increase their prices, we probably should brace ourselves for jumps as extreme as this all around...
I also have no idea when the prices are meant to increase -- I assume either the next financial quarter, or January 1?

 

[Ernie]

The ABL increase is divided into three different zones (1,2 & 3). The main problem is that the state's estimation of property value in the Ciudad Autónoma is between 20 and 40 % of the real market value of said prperty. There are many recent constructions which have not been declared (mostly in Puerto Madero). This does not happen in the suburbs anymore, thanks to Mr. Montoya, who used Google Earth to identify undeclared constructions. This is the case of Nordelta and its huge shopping centre, which is 60.000 sq.mts. in size, for example. The problem is that the cost of ABL is clculated as a percentage of the state's estimation of a property's value. Since all the information is either out-of-date or corrupted, it's impossible to establish a correct and fair ABL tax. Having said this, Mayor Telerman has announced that this increase has been postponed for 30 days, during which period a multi-party commission will discuss the issue and come up with a solution. The end result will be that the final increase will be of about half of what Telerman announced. But it will take place, simply because Telerman and Macri have majority in the city's congress.
Is this clear, or have I just confused you (and myself) a bit more?Welcome to Argentina!CheersErnie

 

[rmartinbuenosaires]

Crystal clear Ernie and thanks for your information! I do not like paying ANY increases as most here seem to be unjustified or prices spiral out of control overnight on most things. I will agree that ABL is currently low and perhaps there should be an increase. The city is doing alot to improve its image and fixing up parks, plazas, etc., and that is great. My problem is, as usual, you just don't increase something by 200% or more. Its absurd. Whatever happened to GRADUAL increments or does that just not happen here? In my lowly opinion, one way to increase revenue would to have the city and/or police monitor things like drivers not stopping for pedestrians and fining them and watching for people who don't pick up their dog sh**t on the sidewalks and fining them as well. This would benefit everyone and create an extra cash flow. Just using my common sense here but enforcing rules are quite a problem.Chau