Chile’s Bachelet in fight-back mode
Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, struggling with low opinion poll ratings, concern over corruption, and a weaker-than-expected economy, is trying to get back on track and get the balance right between adjusting her policies where necessary, on the one hand, and sticking to her guns, on the other. The government’s slogan of the moment is ‘realismo sin renuncia’. This can be roughly translated as ‘realism without surrender’. The big problem for Bachelet is that not all parties within the ruling Nueva Mayoría coalition have interpreted its meaning in the same way.
One sign of the government’s willingness to make some limited concessions to its critics was an announcement that last year’s tax reforms – designed to raise annual government revenues equivalent to 3% of GDP to fund health and education reforms – are being simplified. After a series of meetings with congressional business leaders the government says it will now submit a new bill simplifying tax assessment, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdés said “This isn’t a reform within the reform. It is just the culmination of a process. We don’t want to open more discussions on tax, we just want simplifications.”