The PIT-CNT proposes another tax in Uruguay, where the tax burden is already suffocating citizens and businesses alike.
The union central government is proposing a new 1% tax on the "richest." But Uruguay has reached its limit: the tax system is at its limit, and the middle class is once again caught in the middle of a game they didn't choose.
.jpg)
Tax pressure in Uruguay continues to rise, now with union support.
In a country saturated with taxes, the PIT-CNT is proposing a new tax to fund proposals that no one voted for and that, once again, will be paid by the same people as always.
Uruguay has more than 100 taxes. Almost everything consumed, produced, invoiced, or inherited pays something. Personal Income Tax (IRPF), Social Security Income Tax (IASS), VAT, IMESI (Immigrant Income Tax), municipal taxes, employer and personal contributions, property tax, stamp duty, withholdings. The list goes on and on. However, for the PIT-CNT, it's not enough.
In their first formal meeting with President Yamandú Orsi, the new union leadership proposed applying a 1% tax to "the wealthiest sectors." They presented it as a solution to combat child poverty, as if the only thing missing in this country was more money in the hands of the State.
The proposal seems written in ideological ink, not with real numbers. No one explains how "rich" is defined. Does someone with a good salary earn a lot, even if they pay income tax, social security contributions, and support their family? Is a small business owner who can barely cover salaries, electricity, and social security benefits rich?
The discourse of solidarity disguised as social justice no longer moves. The wallets are empty. The middle class pays everything and receives nothing. The informal sector evades the system, the big players don't bat an eye, and the textbook "rich" have long since figured out how to move their money abroad.
Meanwhile, from the comfort of a well-funded union, with well-paid positions and professional membership, another effort is demanded. Again. Always another.
Fiscal justice or populism?
The proposal also includes reducing the work week to 40 hours, but paying for 48. A gift of words, impossible to sustain without destroying private sector jobs. Who pays the difference? The employer. And by what margin, if they struggle to survive every month?
All of this is coming up just as the new national budget, the future of social security, and real wages are being discussed. But the most painful aspect is the cynicism with which "solutions" financed by others' money are proposed.
There's no proposal to cut public spending. There's no self-criticism about how money is wasted. There's no real interest in optimizing the state. There's only one obsession: to keep squeezing the same people until they burst.
Enough of paying taxes to support other people's ideas
Uruguay is fiscally exhausted. The tax burden is not only high, it's unfair and poorly distributed. And now the solution to all this trouble is to create yet another tax, without structural reform, without spending control, without efficiency.
The PIT-CNT wants to present its ideas as if it represented the people. But the people are tired. Tired of paying, tired of giving in, tired of supporting structures that don't generate, don't produce, and don't assume responsibility.
A new tax, in this context, is not social justice: it is covert plunder .
