Royalties are shared by population, not by where the field is

This is the law that decides how much money each Neuquén municipality has, and where it comes from. The pool to be shared has three legs (article 2): the federal revenue-sharing of Ley 23.548, the provincial collection of the property, turnover and stamp taxes, and the amounts the Province actually receives in hydrocarbon royalties. Out of that pool, the municipalities take 15% (article 3). And the split of that 15% does not look at where the well is (article 4): 60% in direct relation to each municipality's population, 15% in inverse relation to salary cost per inhabitant, 10% by population excluding the provincial capital, 10% by what each municipality collects in its own taxes and 5% in equal parts. ⇒ seven out of every ten pesos of the split are assigned by inhabitants. The provincial bank settles it month by month (article 7); taking part requires the municipality to sign up expressly and not to tax on its own the tax bases it shares (article 9); and the population coefficients are updated every three years by census (article 5). Annex II of 1995 shows the mechanism in figures: Añelo had 0.82% of the municipal pool against 35.03% for the city of Neuquén, 7.50% for Zapala and 1.63% for Rincón de los Sauces. verif · Nov 15, 1995 ↗

The distribution regime applies from the first day of the month following its promulgation (article 13). Including royalties in the shared pool covers production generated from the enactment of the law, in November 1995 (article 2, subsection c). verif · Nov 15, 1995 ↗

The municipalities and comisiones de fomento of Neuquén that signed up to the regime, since this is where much of their operating budget comes from. And, indirectly, anyone depending on the municipal infrastructure of an oil town: the municipality's cash grows with the population the census records and with the total provincial pool, not with the production of its own district. verif · Nov 15, 1995 ↗