Zero Tolerance: Joaquín Villarino comments on the mining royalty bill

The Executive President of the Mining Council, Joaquín Villarino, participated in the Zero Tolerance program panel to address the mining royalty project, which this week was approved by the Chamber of Deputies and Deputies.

 

"We are not denying ourselves, we are asking that things be done well," he said, however, he stressed that "the tool they are proposing now is bad."

 

According to Villarino, the parliamentary initiative "does not distinguish the different types of cost that companies have, it does not distinguish the types of mining industry, because a second tax is applied on the same event, because no sensitivity has been made."

 

Regarding those who affirm that some mining companies do not pay taxes, he maintained that “what I can guarantee is that the financial statements of all the companies are audited in Chile and abroad, that the analysts follow the companies to the finger, they do not allow them anything. To imply that the financial statements are being played around and taxes are not being paid is irresponsible, and if someone has any antecedents, they should make it available to the courts of Justice.

 

Finally, he asserted that “it makes no sense to carry out a campaign of terror if what the country needs is dialogue (…) All this discussion has been built under four pillars that we do not share: that mining does not pay taxes, that it plays with the states financial costs and modifies costs, that in Chile there is no royalty and there is, and that it takes everything and leaves nothing ”.