In today´s article of Diario Financiero newspaper, Alex Fischer assures that the taxation of assets, with the proposal of the Tax Reform, will have a very significant change. “Today the tax on wealth is very limited, focused on certain assets that are indicators of wealth or purchasing power. There is also the municipal patent, which taxes the assets of investment companies, but not the assets held by individuals. The new wealth tax is different, because it is comprehensive of all wealth, regardless of the assets that comprise it. Furthermore, it is atypical among OECD countries and is proposed at a very high rate.”
Likewise, he comments that “from an academic or theoretical point of view, the wealth tax (with low rates) can be an interesting component of a tax system. However, it is truly unwise to pretend that a small country like Chile is a pioneer in this matter. Perhaps it collects the first years, but the flight and opacity of assets will be an unavoidable result if it is to be imposed as lone rangers in the international arena. Realistically, Chile should consider a wealth tax when it has been widely adopted by OECD countries, particularly the United States, and inter-jurisdictional arbitration is not easy. There is still a way to go at the international level to agree on the wealth tax as a homogeneous tool, which can be adopted by small countries, such as Chile”.
