Bribery is also something of a safety valve. When the state stands in the way of (otherwise peaceful and voluntary) exchange, paying a bribe may be a better outcome than not having these productive activities happen (indirectly as well, the state may benefit from increased tax revenues later on). Of course, some bribery can be evil, but the problem is not corruption itself, rather the power that fosters it is.
At least part of the issue, from what I can tell from the article, is that the majority of the people cheat on their taxes, so the Argentine government has to raise taxes in order to get enough revenue to pay operating expenses, which leads people to cheat on their taxes more, which...
