Paraguay
Lawmakers revive debate over taxes on tirzepatide and add criticism of the pharmaceutical sector
Carlos Godoy defended in the lower house a review of the tax treatment of tirzepatide and questioned the margins of laboratories and pharmacies. The debate also included calls to bring tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks into a broader public health discussion.
Lawmaker Carlos Marcial Godoy again raised in the Chamber of Deputies the possibility of reviewing the tax burden on tirzepatide and other medicines used to treat diabetes and obesity, according to ABC Color. During the regular session, he said Law No. 6380 already sets a 5% VAT for medicines and 10% for other cases, and rejected the idea that his position amounts to creating a new tax on his own initiative.
According to that outlet, Godoy responded to criticism from pharmaceutical business leaders and said tax exemptions end up mainly benefiting pharmacy chains and laboratories. In his remarks, he said those sectors sell the products with markups of between 35% and 40% to the public and cited a 15 mg tirzepatide presentation to point out differences between the sale price to pharmacies and the final price to consumers.
ABC Color also reported that the lawmaker submitted three requests for information to the National Directorate of Tax Revenues, the Ministry of Health and the National Directorate of Sanitary Surveillance. Based on responses already received, he said tirzepatide is not part of the current list of health technologies of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, so, in his view, it should not qualify for the current tax benefit.
Backing that position, the first vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Meza, defended the need to review specific taxes and also lashed out at laboratory owners, whom he accused of seeking business with the State. However, Meza said the debate should not be limited to that medicine and proposed including tobacco, alcohol, sugary drinks and other medicines with exemptions as well, with the idea of directing any additional revenue to the health system.
From the opposition, Johanna Ortega especially welcomed that broadening of the debate and noted that the tobacco tax remains unchanged despite, as she recalled, the law allowing it to be raised by decree from 22% to 24%. She also warned that the discussion over tirzepatide may respond to a political vendetta or a bid for positioning ahead of the elections, and therefore asked that the matter be addressed after the vote.
In the same vein, Raúl Benítez said any increase in the tobacco tax should be analyzed as a public health policy and not as retaliation against a sector. According to ABC Color, the lawmaker said Paraguay has one of the lowest rates in the region and in the world on that product, and added that diseases associated with tobacco generate costs far higher than what is collected through that channel. On tirzepatide, he said he was open to discussing its tax treatment, but asked that it be done with data and with a comprehensive health perspective.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
