Formalizar: ¿para qué?

Abstract

The issue of informality is very handled, very used, and poorly confronted. Normally, informality is concentrated in smaller, sole proprietorships and microenterprises, which due to their size and because they are usually part of the traditional and basic sectors of the economy, have little managerial knowledge, little income and no coverage for eventualities. Despite the very small levels of income and the small number of employees they have, when these are seen as a sector the numbers are different and come to represent the majority of companies, employment, and a very large percentage of the contribution to GDP. As more than 90% of them are informal (they do not pay income tax) and as almost 60% of the employment they generate is also informal, when talking about the issue of informality the mistake is made of pointing to them as the source of much of the ills of the national economy, without recognizing that, although they do not declare taxes, they do pay them, and that to achieve greater formalization it is necessary to have a better understanding of the causes that generate it and the type of incentives that the solutions that are proposed must have. That is why we advocate that the objective of formalization must be very clear and that this must be a transparent, intelligent, and interesting process for all parties, but especially for the informal one.