TRANSPORT workers in Argentina walked out yesterday on a one-day strike in protest at high rates of tax and inflation.

The country came to a standstill, with trains, buses and underground lines shut down and many domestic and international flights cancelled.

Members of the Socialist Workers Party blocked the main roads into capital Buenos Aires, making it hard even for drivers to enter the city.

Unions said that high taxes and high inflation, which private economists put at around 35 per cent, have eroded wage gains in the last two years.

They also want to raise the minimum income on which taxes are applied.

But the government said that the tax rates were fair and only affected the small percentage of workers paid more than 15,000 pesos (£1,150) a month.

Automotive Tramways Union leader Roberto Fernandez said that the strike was solid, “but for us there is no happiness here because the country loses. Unfortunately, the government refuses to be reasonable.”