El Ciudadano
Original article: Otra más: Críticas al Gobierno de Kast por eliminación de franquicia SENCE que afectará capacitaciones de sectores más necesitados
“Government Cuts SENCE Tax Credit; Unions Warn of ‘Death Sentence’ for Thousands of Families”
The Minister of Finance, Jorge Quiroz, announced the elimination of the SENCE tax credit as part of the National Reconstruction Plan under President José Antonio Kast’s administration.
According to reports from PL Prensa (April 18, 2026), the government official defended the decision by stating that “this incentive, costing nearly $300 million annually, does not yield positive results,” and that “the lack of analysis has led to significant abuses of these state resources.”
Following the announcement, the OTIC of the Chilean Chamber of Construction (OTIC CChC) expressed that the decision poses a “feasibility risk for the Reconstruction Plan due to the lack of qualified human capital,” adding that without a robust training mechanism, “the growth anticipated from the tax reform will be unattainable.”
José Esteban Garay, General Manager of OTIC CChC, as cited by G5 Noticias, stated: “As we have pointed out on multiple occasions, we believe it is crucial to review the training system, as promoting investments requires an updated perspective on human capital, and we cannot improvise at this time. We oppose complete elimination but support improving and reviewing the system.”
The same source notes that Chile faces “a gap of 50 points in adult competencies compared to the OECD average, where only 2% of the population has high skill levels, according to the PIAAC survey.” This is critical in light of the $51 billion mining investment expected by 2034 and the projected $40 billion annually in construction investments by 2027, which will require over 90,000 and 37,000 new specialized jobs, respectively.
Carlos Linares, President of the Metropolitan Association of Technical Training Organizations (AGMO), in communication with Radio Biobío on April 18, 2026, warned that eliminating this benefit constitutes a “historic error for Chile’s human capital” and represents a “death sentence for thousands of Chileans.” According to AGMO’s public statement, “more than 30,000 families will directly lose their livelihoods due to the forced closure of training organizations.”
Carla Aravena, General Manager of OTEC Teamclass, commented to PL Prensa that while she acknowledges “previous irregularities,” the assessment “does not justify dismantling the tool,” and called for “enhanced government oversight and significantly higher standards required of the training organizations.” Additionally, Ricardo Ruiz de Viñaspre, former director of SENCE, and Juan Bravo, Director of OCEC at UDP, cited by the same outlet, challenged the current subsidy design and cautioned about the significant uncertainty created by eliminating it without proposing a clear alternative policy.
The OTIC CChC reminded, according to G5 Noticias, that “the current training structure has essential reach, allowing nearly one million workers to be trained annually from 10,000 companies.” José Esteban Garay emphasized: “The training system is not a tax expenditure; it is a basic enabling mechanism,” and proposed “transitioning towards an improved model, based on data, employability outcomes, and technical flexibility.”
Finally, AGMO, in its public statement captured by Radio Biobío, concluded by demanding that the authorities of Finance, Economy, and Labor “make this proposal transparent and halt this dismantling,” because “Chile does not need less training but rather a deep modernization that places the worker at its center.” The entity stated: “We will not allow a short-term vision to destroy decades of progress in human capital.”
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