BUENOS AIRES — The taut political climate in came under new strain on Tuesday as strikes by transportation workers and others brought the country to a halt.
Airline, railroad and bus services were canceled and banks and filling stations across the country were closed by the strikes, leaving eerily empty the main avenues of cities and major transportation terminals.
Union leaders called the one-day strike to demand that the government adjust income-tax rules to take account of the high inflation in the country — 24 percent last year by official figures, and much more by private estimates. Until now, only a small minority of Argentines have had incomes high enough to owe any tax, but inflation and accompanying wage increases threaten to push many more workers above the minimum threshold, union leaders say.
Strikes by influential unions are not uncommon in , but the timing and scale of the action on Tuesday may compound the political turbulence in the country, which is due to hold presidential primary elections in August.
The government has been in crisis since January, when a federal prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, died under murky circumstances after accusing President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of plotting a political cover-up involving Iran and the bombing of a Jewish community center. A court has twice thrown out the case against Mrs. Kirchner, most recently last week, but an appeal of that decision was lodged on Tuesday.
“We’re enduring a very politicized scenario,” Carlos Germano, an Argentine political analyst, said Tuesday. “I don’t think this is going to end here.”
Union leaders assailed the government’s handling of economic and social issues and threatened additional action. “We propose continuing this struggle,” Luis Barrionuevo, one of the leaders, said at a news conference Tuesday.
Mrs. Kirchner, who is barred by the Constitution from running for re-election this year, appears to have weathered the fallout from Mr. Nisman’s death, judging by the latest opinion polls. Surveys conducted by Management & Fit, an Argentine polling company, found that Mrs. Kirchner’s job approval rating had risen to 36 percent from 30 in February. Axel Kicillof, the economy minister, suggested to reporters before the strike began that it was a strictly political maneuver that would benefit only a handful of Argentines — he put the figure at 10 percent — who pay income tax. “So this strike action is by the rest of the workers in solidarity with the biggest earners,” he said. “They need to explain its true purpose.”
In a speech on Tuesday evening, Mrs. Kirchner lashed out at the workers and accused them of politicking.
Moving to take advantage of the unrest, Sergio Massa, an opposition presidential candidate, promised on Tuesday that if he won the election, working-class people would immediately be exempt from income taxes.