Page 19 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, MARCH, 2018, ENGLISH

Chile: Regionalization and Revaluation of Non-Agricultural Goods
Two laws on strengthening the country’s regionalization and the regulation of the election of regional governors were published in the Diario Oficial, while the Internal Revenue Service established new values for non-agricultural real estate, in accordance with Law No 17,235 on Territorial Tax.
In the Diario Oficial were recently published Laws No 21,074, on strengthening the country’s regionalization, and No 21,073, which regulates the election of regional governors. Both provisions mainly modify the Constitutional Organic Law No 19,175 on government and regional administration and contribute to the decentralization of the country, endowing the regions with representative bodies with powers for the development and planning of their territories.
The first norm allows the transfer to the regional governments of the powers that ministries and public services have today; establishes new legal competences for regional governments, among which are the design, elaboration, approval and application of policies, plans, programs and projects; the elaboration of the Regional Plan of binding Territorial Ordinance. Also the power to decide the location of the solid waste disposal in the home; elaborate and approve the regional policy of science, technology and innovation for development and contemplate a new structure and functions that will allow not only the design, but also the direct execution, by the Regional Government, of its own programs that currently must be executed through the municipalities or national public services, as well as competencies that are transferred to it.
Election of Regional Governors
The second law includes the following aspects: • Creates the figure of the regional governor as the executive organ of the Regional Government, who will preside over the Regional Council. He will serve four years in office and may be re-elected only once. • It establishes the requirements to apply for the position, its inabilities, incompatibilities, surrogacy, vacancy and grounds for
cessation of the new authority. • The election of regional governors will be held for the first time in October 2020, together with that of mayors and councillors. Then, from the year 2024, it will be carried out together with that of regional councillors, mayors and councillors. • In the election of regional governors, the candidate that obtains the highest number of validly cast votes will be elected, provided that he reaches at least 40 percent of the suffrages.
Conditions and Incompatibilities
• If no candidate reaches that vote, a second round will be held on the fourth Sunday following the date of the election, between the two candidates that have obtained the highest majorities. • The nomination to the position of regional governor will be incompatible with the nomination to the office of President of the Republic, parliamentarian, regional councillor, mayor and councillor. • In order to be candidates for regional governor, state ministers, undersecretaries and provincial presidential delegates, among other authorities, must resign their position within the year immediately prior to the election of regional governor.
• In order for a regional governor, regional presidential delegate and provincial presidential delegate to be candidates for deputies and senators, they must resign one year before the respective election, to prevent them from using their posts for electoral purposes.
• The regional governor may be subject to a possible constitutional accusation in the same terms and formalities as the office of President of the Republic, that is, a possible accusatory libel should be presented by the absolute majority of the deputies and the declaration of guilt will be approved by at least 2/3 of the senators.
Revaluation of Non-Farm Real Estate 2018
The Internal Tax Service published the Non-Agricultural Revaluation Portal 2018, where taxpayers will be able to access the new values or the tax assessment of about 6.6 million non-agricultural real estate, in accordance with the results of the revaluation process that for this type of property corresponds to apply every four years, as established in Law N ° 17,235 on Territorial Tax.
These new assessments are effective from January 1, 2018 and were determined in a process carried out by the Internal Tax Service in different stages, including the massive appraisal by which the values of the properties are updated. It should be noted that the taxpayers during the month of March started to receive the letter that represents the first installment of their contributions that they will have
to pay in April. The appraisal of a property considers the sum of the values of land and construction of a property. To determine the value of the soil one must multiply the land area by the unit of the square meter, previously defined for the area or sector where the property is located (called homogeneous area), among other factors.
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