Chilean Government Writes Off Tax Debt Owed by Top Logging Companies

Chilean Government Writes Off Tax Debt Owed by Top Logging Companies Celulosa Arauco and CMPC

19 April, 2004

The Chilean government is currently under investigation for irregularities regarding the cancellation of tax debt owed by the country’s leading corporations. In 2001, the government cancelled tax debts of Chile’s largest and wealthiest companies, among them the two largest logging firms that have continued to drive the destruction of Chile’s native forests.

The companies benefitting from the government’s debt cancellation are CMPC- Forestal Mininco under ownership of Eliodoro Matte, and Arauco Cellulose and Constitucion S.A., owned by Anacleto Angelini. The government cancelled tax debts from 1997 onward. In 2003, Chile’s national Treasury Inspector´s Office conducted an inquiry into the process (Record 216-2003, Appendices 11 and 12) and accused Chilean General Treasurer Gianni Lambertini of "abandonment of function".

The amount of debt forgiveness is estimated at $4.1 million dollars in the case of CMPC-Mininco and $134,000 in the case of Arauco. This indirect subsidy was granted to the logging companies despite the fact that both are recognized as leading destroyers of Chilean native forests and own over 1,500,000 hectares (3,700,000 acres) of pine and eucalyptus plantations in Chile.

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