Grain-export tax defeat a setback for Argentine leader
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s Senate rejected a controversial grain-export tax package early Thursday, dealing a blow to the government on a key issue that has led to nationwide farm strikes and regional food shortages.
Lawmakers voted against the government-backed bill 37-36 following 17 hours of debate. Voting was tied until Vice President Julio Cobos — who is also leader of the Senate — broke the deadlock with a deciding ballot.
I think today is the most difficult day of my life, Cobos said. They tell me I must go along with the government for institutional reasons, but my heart tells me otherwise. May history judge me, my vote is not for, it’s against.
Cobos already had expressed concern about the motives behind tying the tax to the value of grain on the international markets.
President Cristina Fernandez decreed a more than 10 percent sliding-scale increase in export taxes on soy and other grains in March in a bid to trap farm products on the Argentine market and drive down prices.
Cobo’s vote could unleash a political crisis in the government. The vice president belongs to the Radical Civic Union party that traditionally has opposed the Peronist party headed by Fernandez.
The proposed measure led to a major confrontation between the government and the agricultural sector, one of the most powerful economic blocs in Argentina.
