BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s government is open to negotiations to strengthen a tax reform bill it has submitted to the Andean country’s Congress, Colombian President Gustavo Petro told business leaders on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Colombia’s leftist government introduced a tax reform bill to lawmakers that would raise taxes in an effort to fund anti-poverty programs.
The goal of the reform is to gradually increase tax revenue through anti-tax evasion and anti-tax avoidance measures until reaching an additional 50 trillion pesos per year ($10.$4 billion), by the end of Petro’s term at 2026. It has caught the attention of businesses and investors.
“We want tax reform to be approved, to improve where it can be improved, to enrich it, even on things we haven’t seen,” Petro said in a meeting with the National Council of Business Associations, adding Said the reform’s goals include funding the state, promoting equality and reducing social inequalities.
The goal of the reforms is to end preferential tax treatment in favour of the wealthy in order to reduce poverty and inequality, including addressing hunger nationwide.
Its main proposals include raising taxes on the wealthy earning more than 11 million pesos per month ($2,273), permanent property taxes and duties on the sale of shares in companies listed on the stock exchange.
The reform will also impose a 11% tax on coal exports when every Revenue from oil and gold when a commodity exceeds a certain price threshold. The threshold for oil is 11 dollars per barrel, while coal exports will be subject to tariffs when the price exceeds 11 dollars per barrel Ton. The threshold for gold shipments is $400 per troy ounce.
Business associations have alternative solutions which include divesting non-productive state assets and value seized from drug trafficking in the past two years 22, said Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of the National Federation of Traders, a trillion pesos ($5 billion).
