Draft tax bill ‘threatens press freedom’

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Buenos Aires Herald

Monday, June 6, 2016

Draft tax bill ‘threatens press freedom’

Journalists in Argentina could be sentenced with up to two years in prison if they reveal protected information identifying those who sign up for the new tax amnesty programme, according to the fine print of the government-sponsored bill.

The draft introduced last week by the Let’s Change (Cambiemos) administration establishes that the government could prosecute and impose a fine on any person “revealing or publishing documents or information in any way related to voluntary affidavits.”

With this broad anti-leak move, the national government wants to encourage more individuals to participate in the tax amnesty plan. But experts say that part of the legislation is unconstitutional.

The draft bill “is worrisome from the point of view of freedom of expression, particularly when intertwined with the constitutional right to freedom of expression,” said media specialist Martín Becerra, a professor at the universities of Buenos Aires (UBA) and Quilmes (UNQ). “It criminalizes the divulging of information that could be of public interest.”

Read more: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/215632/draft-tax-bill-‘threatens-press-freedom’

[forest444]

1. And here's the kicker, Judi:

Macri's bill would not only criminalize investigative reporting on those who might benefit from this tax amnesty plan (which would, of course, include Macri, his family, and many of his friends, business partners, and administration officials); but it would even subject journalists with a fine equal to whatever amount was repatriated by way of said amnesty.

If, for instance, Macri's best friend and favorite contractor, Nicky Caputo, repatriates, say, 10 million dollars, and a journalist reports this scoop, then that journalist would have to cough up a 10 million dollar fine (!).

You'll be happy to know that this bill has no chance of passing through Congress though. All it has succeeded in doing, is reinforcing the voters' growing perception that Macri is little more than an autocratic kleptocrat of the kind one sees so often in the third world.