Posted on 01/05/2003 11:13:46 AM PST by Dog Gone
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's enemies have found another way to hit the already staggering government in the pocketbook: a tax boycott.
Democratic Coordinator, the opposition group made up largely of business, oil and labor interests, decided Saturday it needed a plan to avoid sales and income taxes, without suffering government sanctions.
Two supermarkets were forced to close Saturday when too many customers answered the opposition's call to not pay sales taxes.
A work group was formed Saturday to determine how stores can deal with such situations and it will report back on Monday.
''We're going to hit them in all ways,'' opposition leader Carlos Fernández told The Herald. ``The money we're paying in taxes is used to pay for tear gas and to equip and pay armed groups. We want our money to be used for hospitals and education.''
On Friday, two Chavez supporters were killed at a rally attended by thousands of opposition protesters. On Saturday, gunmen, said to be aligned with Chavez, fired into a crowd at a local police station, wounding two officers. Officials said the men who fired had attended a wake for Oscar Gomez Aponte, 24, one of the victims from Friday's violence. Officers returned fire using rubber bullets and tear gas, Police Chief Henry Vivas said. There were no immediate arrests.
The call for a tax boycott is among the opposition's plans to increase pressure on the government to resolve a 35-day national strike that was called to force Chávez to resign or call for early elections. Surprised at the duration of the strike, organizers are looking for new ways to increase the financial pressure on Chávez's government, already suffering losses of about $40 million a day.
Labor leader Carlos Ortega said the next step is to tell companies, stores and individuals to refuse to pay sales and income tax, which is illegal. To duck Venezuela's version of the IRS, the Democratic Coordinator is considering creating an escrow account for people and businesses to deposit their taxes ``in an act of civil disobedience.''
The money would be turned over to the government, but only once the controversial Chávez is out of office.
Among the details to be worked out: who would administer the fund, how to prevent corruption, and whether to include social security taxes in the boycott.
''There's no question this would be complicated,'' said Juan Manuel Raffalli, legal advisor to the opposition negotiating team. ``The government likes to say it doesn't negotiate through blackmail. They're going to say this tax boycott is blackmail. It doesn't matter; they don't have the will to negotiate, anyway.''
Chávez denounced the tax-evasion plan as a felony committed in the name of politics.
''The one who doesn't pay taxes has to go to jail,'' Chávez said. ``That is a crime. This call to boycott taxes is a call to crime.''
The Dec. 2 work stoppage led by the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., has paralyzed the oil industry and much of the nation's commerce but has failed to bring down the leftist president.
Chávez alienated the business, media, labor and oil sectors through his autocratic style and consolidation of power, and now those groups have united in an alliance to oust him.
The president has refused a call for early elections and says strike leaders are simply conspirators plotting a coup to overthrow him.
Chávez said that not only can the government ill afford to lose tax revenue, it cannot pay for a Feb. 2 referendum on his administration. The plebiscite, he said, is simply not a priority at a time in which the nation is barely able to pay government salaries and fund social projects.
The opposition responded by creating a separate escrow fund for Venezuelans to contribute toward the referendum's estimated $22 million cost. Private firms have already donated paper and ink for the ballots, strike leaders said.
Taking lessons from Arafat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.