The Regional Governor of Valparaíso, Rodrigo Mundaca, expressed his support for the indication promoted by deputy Luis Cuello (PC) to incorporate a Port Royalty within the tax reform bill presented by the Government of José Antonio Kast.
After the meeting, deputy Luis Cuello explained that the indication incorporates the proposal he has been promoting since July 2025 and that aims to compensate for the impact experienced by port cities. “We have presented our port royalty proposal to the governor, now as an indication within the Government’s tax reform, which unfortunately goes in the direction of taking resources away from the regions and communes,” he noted.
Along those lines, Cuello argued that regions like Valparaíso require greater financing tools to face the neglect and investment deficit affecting various communes. “We have cities that are abandoned and that need more public investment. That is why we hope that this indication can advance in the commission and open a discussion on how regions also participate in the wealth generated by their ports,” he specified.
For his part, Governor Mundaca valued the proposal and assured that the Port Royalty represents a concrete tool to strengthen the country’s fiscal decentralization. “We absolutely support this indication presented by deputy Luis Cuello, because fiscal decentralization is fundamental not only for regional governments, but for Chile,” he stated.
The regional authority also questioned the focus of the tax reform promoted by the Executive, pointing out that “when the State captures less income, social programs and the living conditions of the population are ultimately affected.”
In that context, Mundaca highlighted that “establishing a levy, a port royalty in circumstances where we as a region host the country’s main ports, including the largest land port in Latin America, the Puerto Terrestre de Los Andes, seems to us a good initiative, a good project, a good indication.”
Regarding the indication, the objective is to incorporate new articles into the bill to establish a Port Royalty equivalent to one dollar per ton transferred at the country’s maritime terminals, a charge that must be paid by cargo shipping companies, while in the case of land ports the compensation will fall on importers and exporters.
Furthermore, the proposal defines that 50% of the resources collected will be allocated directly to the port communes and the other 50% to the respective regional governments, funds that must be invested in educational infrastructure, health, heritage, transportation, and regional and communal development projects.
Previously, deputy Luis Cuello told PortalPortuario that the Port Royalty is “quite marginal for shipping companies,” preferring to call this possible new tax a “compensation” for port cities that, in some cases, present high degrees of deterioration.
Meanwhile, 43 productive guilds of Chile, ranging from food to maritime, considered, in an open letter, as “a fallacy” considering the tax cost that the application of a Port Royalty would entail as a “small value.”
In turn, Frutas de Chile expressed its concern over a possible imposition of the royalty, as there is fear that the current bill could affect the competitiveness of the industry, while the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril (Sofofa) added that the potential implementation of the proposal would represent a legal risk in light of a series of international agreements signed by the country.
