Members of the Resource and Arbitration Committee of the Republican Party Representatives are promoting a fiscal project that includes, among several measures, the application of a 5% tax to remittances that leave the United States, measure that could affect Guatemalan families that depend on that income.
Republican leaders plan to present the initiative on Tuesday at the House of Representatives for their initial analysis. POsteriorly, the project would be sent to the Senate with a view to its approval next July.
The proposal states that remittances to other countries would be subject to a new 5%tax, and Additional standards would be established for those who request tax credit for entry of work for low -income households.
Economic analysts estimate that this measure could reduce the entry of remittances to the Central American countries that depend on them, However, they point out that the proposal has not yet been approved.
The monetary authorities have not yet officially pronounced on this initiative, it is estimated that the project will be approved and will have a direct impact on the economy of several countries that such as Guatemala, remittances represent one of the main support pillars for thousands of families and represent a significant percentage of the gross domestic product.
Other measures
This proposal is part of a broader “fiscal package” that President Donald Trump had previously announced, aimed at implementing tax cuts and tax increases to balance its budgetary effects.
For example, it seeks to include exemptions to tips, overtime payments, loans to acquire cars manufactured in the country and social security benefits, in addition to increasing tax benefits to the elderly and families with children.
This would leave a deficit in government income that would be amortized in part by restrictions on the Medicaid Health Program, which covers about 71 million people with low resources, although Trump and the president of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, have insisted that they will not touch it.
The possible restrictions to the Medicaid are precisely one of the points of discord among the Republicans, as well as a potential reduction of the SNAP program of aid for the purchase of food.
The centrists of the Republican party have expressed concern about the effects on the constituents in their states, in one of the samples of internal struggles with the most conservative wing of the formation, more favorable to broad cuts in federal spending.
Another point of disagreement is the proposal of tax rise to those who earn more than US $ 5 million. Trump urged Republicans to approve this increase, a call that was not enthusiastically received by all legislators and has been out of the proposal.
Its plan also seeks to triple tax and local deductions for taxpayers, which would go from US $ 10,000 to US $ 30,000 a year, a measure that representatives of mostly Democratic states have criticized for insufficient.
They also include the rise from 1.4% to 21% in taxes on universities, including those of the so -called Ivy League, and a provision that would eliminate tax exemptions from groups and organizations that, according to Trump’s administration, sympathize and support terrorists.
Organizations in defense of human rights have sounded alarms for what they see as possible violation of civil liberties and a possible way of punishing those who disagree with the government.
The plan would also put an end to the clean energy subsidies that the former Democratic President Joe Biden (2021-2025) included in his Law on Inflation Reduction (2022).