The government of President Gustavo Petro presented to the Congress his Financing Law. The initiative, which seeks to raise $ 26.3 billionaims to balance the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) estimated for 2026.
(Read more: the tax reform has not begun to discuss and would already be virtually sunk)
Although the initiative has been the target of many criticisms, that the national government presents a proposal of this style is not novelty.
Tax reforms aim to change one or more aspects of the tax structure to, through these adjustments, Increase or decrease the amount of money the State receives for taxes. The idea with this is to maximize the economic and social benefits that can be obtained through this system, while improving its efficiency.
In other words, these types of projects are usually adopted by administrations to respond to tax crises without promoting deep structural transformations.
In that context, since the commissioning of the millennium, five heads of state have presented or implementing the tax scheme. In total, About 13 tax initiatives are counted.
(Read more: the rules and taxes that would be without effect if the tax reform is approved)
Time reforms
During the four years he was in charge of the Casa de Nariño, Andrés Pastrana presented two tax reforms (Law 488 of 1998 and Law 633 of the year 2000). The idea with these projects was to increase the income of the State in the midst of the economic difficulties that the country was going through.
The most prominent change that resulted from these proposals was The implementation of the Financial Movement Gravamen (GMF), that at that time it was raised as a temporary tax that charged two pesos per 1,000 and subsequently increased to 3×1,000.
Andrés Pastrana
Héctor Fabio Zamora / Portafolio
Years later, the government of Álvaro Uribe doubled the bet with the filing of four tax reforms in the eight years he was in the presidency. They all had to finance the expense in Democratic security, attending the fiscal deficit and sustaining social programs.
The first was Law 788 of 2002, with which the VAT base was expanded and the retention system at the source was strengthened. This was followed, Law 863 of 2003, with which the assets tax was created and tax benefits were implemented to sectors such as hotel and free zones.
The following two reforms were the Law 1111 of 2006with which the tax rate to financial movements (now known as 4×1,000), and the Law 1370 of 2009, with which taxes increased to assets.
Former President Álvaro Uribe
Time
(Read more: if the tax reform is approved, monetary poverty in Colombia would grow)
Now, former president Juan Manuel Santos also proposed the modification of the tax system. In that sense, throughout his two periods in command, Four tax reforms were approved.
Punctually, they were created Law 1430 of 2010, Law 1607 of 2012, Law 1739 of 2014 and Law 1819 of 2016. These created taxes on equity and wealth; Increased VAT from 16% to 19%, greater progressivity was implemented in income tax for natural persons and more measures against evasion and elusion.
Juan Manuel Santos.
Archive time
On the side of former president Iván Duque, three projects were promoted: Law 1943 of 2018 sought the gradual reduction of income tax, in addition to discounting from VAT the acquisition of capital goods; the 2010 law of 2019, which included VAT return to vulnerable householdsand Law 2155 of 2021, which increased the income rate to companies and created an austerity plan for public spending.
Iván Duque, former president of Colombia
EFE
Finally, so far from Gustavo Petro’s government, a great tax reform has been approved. Law 2277 aims to increase the collection progressively, looking for greater equity and financing of social programs. Among its key points appear temporary surcharge to exports of oil and coal when international prices exceed certain levels, healthy taxes, changes in the dividend rate for natural persons, among others.
During the second half of his mandate there was also a failed attempt of the Financing Law, whose fall motivated the presentation of this new project.
(Read more: Government comes out in defense of the Tax: ‘seeks to balance and fiscal equity’)
Portfolio
