The project of Tax Reform Based on the government of Gustavo Petro, on Monday, September 1, it is “the one that will affect the Colombian families of all those who have presented in recent years“, said Bruce Mac Master, president of the National Association of Entrepreneurs (ANDI).
The union manager was very critical of the initiative, which seeks to raise $ 26.3 billion and help finance the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) of 2026, which the Government proposes that it be $ 556.9 billion.
(See: ‘What will happen to my money?’: Taxes that would fall in Colombians).
For Mac Master, the fuel tax including the Tax will affect “To all the transports that are going to be made in our country, that is, the transport of people or the transport of food“
According to the document, by 2026, The rate of the producer in the sale of gasoline will be 10%. As of January 1, 2027, it will be taxed at the 19%general rate. In the case of ACPM, For the years 2026 and 2027, the income rate of the producer in the sale will be of the 10% As of January 1, 2028, the general rate will apply, also of the 19%.
Bruce Mac Master and Gustavo Petro.
Archive time
“In other words, we will have a single tax that will affect the entire family basket, it will also affect small businesses, it will affect small businesses that will need to transport their people and their products and they will not achieve it. But it will also affect producers who manage to export or try to export our products by removing competitiveness and generating greater logistics costs“He analyzed, in this regard, Mac Master.
(See: If the tax reform was approved, monetary poverty would grow in Colombia).
He also stressed that The tourism sector would be affected by the tax. The Government said that “Colombian tourism is not taxed, only the privilege of foreigners who did not pay VAT to lodging services and tourist plans is eliminated.”
In this regard, the president of the Andi considered that “One of the sectors that is going to be most affected is tourism, which had been declared as national importance and that was supposed to replace some other currency sources. Why does it affect it? It affects it because transport is affected: a very good part of tourism is done by transporting people even in a land from one place to another; because the beverage and liquor sector is affected; because the food sector is affected; And because the entertainment sector that in Colombia has generated large tourism flows is affected“
And he pointed out that all this occurs while the Government decides to create an energy surcharge that “ends up generating an important cost to many activities“
(See: President of the Aval Group says that it is not time for a new tax reform).
“It happens at the same time that Colombia makes wrong decisions in terms of natural gas and a country that was self -sufficient in terms of natural gas and with invoices that were between 4 and 8 dollars, will have to import gas from other countries at this time. We will have to regulate it and we will have to pay bills that can be about 20 or 25 dollars“He complemented.
Tax Reform.
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Does the tax hit the middle class?
Mac Master was emphatic in saying that the tax reform will strongly affect Colombian employees: “To the middle class, which is the one that pays the most taxes, because being automatically formally discounted by retention route taxes. The type of middle class effects even reaches the administrations of the buildings“
(See: Government comes out in defense of the Tax: ‘seeks balance and fiscal equity’).
He said that the real problem lies in the PGN and in the increases year by year from 2022.
According to your accounts, The growth accumulated from 2022 to 2026 will add 57%: 19.9% in 2023, 19% in 2024, 3.9% in 2025 and 6.5% in 2025.
“In 2022, the budget was $ 352 billion pesos. In 2023 it rises to $ 422 billion. In 2024, at $ 503 billion. In 2025, at $ 523 billion and in 2026 it is planned to be $ 557 billion“, while commenting that”The government is asking for efforts to Colombian homes, the government is asking for efforts to Colombian companies. It does not make efforts to reduce spending, on the contrary, year by year we are having figures that grow significantly“
(See: Urgen that carf has more ‘teeth’ to avoid excess spending from governments).
And he ended asking the Petro administration to reduce “The unnecessary expense, the luxury expense and the expense related to electoral interests. Colombia has to find the maximum level that we can finance. The Congress of the Republic has the task of identifying the amount that can be approved to the National Government to, based on that, talk about possible tax changes or tax reforms”
Some truths about the hardest tax reform with Colombian homes in history
Not only is it regressive, it’s recessive
Reform that is not required if the national government makes the efforts that correspond to it to reduce spending pic.twitter.com/e3mpjp1rev– Bruce Mac Master (@brucemacmaster) SEPTEMBER 3, 2025
Camilo Hernández M.
Portfolio Digital Editor
