Uruguay, against the opposite direction: the policy that caused international purchases to collapse

By Jesus Vargas

The scene is already a memory of other times. Just a year ago, Uruguayans celebrated the arrival of platform packages like Temu with the same expectation with which they expect a gift. In the offices, conversations revolved around how long shipping took or what a bargain they had gotten for just a few dollars. Today, that climate has changed radically. Enthusiasm was replaced by calculation and disillusionment: the “Temu tax” came to put a ceiling on the freedom of choice.

According to the latest records from the National Customs Directorate, the impact was immediate and overwhelming: a 43% drop in shipments during May, the first month under the new tax regime. The figure of 112,355 packages is not just a cold number in a technical report; It is irrefutable proof that when the State puts its hand in the consumer's pocket, the market freezes.

The cost of “protecting” a few

The official argument was the same as always: seek “equitable treatment” with traditional commerce. However, in practice, what was done was to penalize the ordinary citizen. With the imposition of 22% VAT on international purchases, the government of the day not only made the final product more expensive, but ended up suffocating a consumer alternative that had democratized access to goods that, otherwise, would be unaffordable in the local market.

While traditional merchants celebrated state protection, the Uruguayan consumer felt the blow. Social media—where screenshots of orders were once shared—are now filled with complaints about the additional costs and bureaucracy that now surrounds each purchase. People got tired of juggling to bring a spare part, a tool or a piece of clothing, only to end up paying a surcharge that, in many cases, makes the operation unfeasible.

The policy that punishes the consumer

It's ironic. As the world moves towards trade facilitation and global access, the path of retreat was chosen here. The modification to the franchise regime—which now allows the 0 to be spent in a single time, but under a more burdensome tax scheme—seems more like an attempt to raise money and appease influential unions than a true measure to support commercial development.

In the halls of fairs and in coffee conversations, the feeling is unanimous: people lost interest. The “Temu effect”, which had allowed thousands of Uruguayans to access basic products at reasonable prices, was dismantled by a tax collection zeal that ignores social unrest. The message is clear: if you want to buy cheap, you have to pay the “toll” to the State.

Numbers that don't lie

Although the data show that in the first five months of the year there was still year-on-year growth, the month of May marks a break in the trend that does not allow for double readings. The drop to the levels of June 2024 – when the phenomenon of Chinese platforms was just emerging – confirms that enthusiasm was massacred by tax policy.

In the end, the government achieved its objective: to reduce the flow of packages. But he did it at the cost of the freedom of consumption of Uruguayans. While the State boasts of applying control measures, citizens are left without alternatives and with less money in their pockets. The question that remains is whether it was worth sacrificing the well-being of thousands of consumers to sustain a model that, far from innovating, prefers to close the doors and charge for every crack.