The government has requested that the Supreme Court intervene in its dispute with Chubut over taxes after federal judge Hugo Sastre ruled in favor of the province last Tuesday and ordered the Milei administration to stop withholding the province’s share. 

The Treasury Prosecution Office filed the request, asking the court to overturn Sastre’s ruling on the grounds that the only judiciary body authorized to settle disputes between provinces and the federal government is the Supreme Court, per Article 117 of the Constitution. 

“The matter under discussion is related to issues of economic policy that fall under the purview of the national government,” the document reads, referencing the distribution of transport subsidies that is at the heart of the feud between the Milei administration and the provincial governments. Because of this, the government argues that Sastre has “no competence” to rule over the issue 

Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced the decision in a post on X, calling it the “first action” of the government’s strategy in its feud with Chubut over taxes. He did not say what other steps were being planned.  

Inside the dispute over federal taxes

Sastre’s decision put a temporary end to the conflict between Chubut and the federal government, which threatened to spill over to the rest of the country. Last Friday, Chubut governor Ignacio Torres warned he would stop sending oil and gas to the rest of Argentina unless the national government released AR$13.5 billion in federal tax revenues. 

The feud between them prompted all but one of Argentina’s governors to back Torres. President Javier Milei called the warning a “Chavista threat” and claimed the national government was subtracting a debt owed by Chubut from the funds it was delivering.

The national government has axed a range of funds destined for Argentine provinces in recent weeks, triggering a dispute with the governors. Teachers in several provinces were on strike Monday after the government refused to pay into a fund that contributes to their wages, while a fund that subsidizes public transport fees has also been axed. 

– Herald/Télam