After knowing the paper for the first debate of the tax reform, in which new points and modifications were highlighted, one of the guilds that remains in suspense is that of platforms and applications, Alliance In. Jose Daniel Lopez, Executive Director, He stated what are the concerns of the companies and what is the call to the Government.
(Read: Entrepreneurs feel unprotected: this they would pay with taxes).
What are the fears generated by the presentation of the tax?
We see that the presentation of the tax reform, if approved as it is, would put a digital brake on the country’s economy. That would mean that there would be new taxes for a series of activities that are essential in the digital economy, and most of which already pay VAT. We are not advocating for the non-payment of taxes, but for fair tax burdens. What is being proposed in this tax presentation is that certain digital activities would pay additional taxes.
What would those activities be?
For example, the activities of guidelines in social networks, this would have a very significant impact on both small and medium-sized businessmen, as well as entrepreneurs, since many do not have physical stores, but rather sell through virtual stores and depend on the guideline. digital. Second, culture through the internet would lose out because there would be new costs for streaming platforms, which have become an important medium, on the one hand so that digital consumers have more options and on the other so that both producers and productions premises have greater exposure.
Thirdly, there are mobility platforms, platforms that already pay VAT and are not regulated. This is how there is a deep contradiction, since there are no clear rules of the game, but new taxes are created for these services. That is why we are warning that with this version of the tax reform, what is coming is a digital brake for the country.
(Also: Know the list of foods that would have taxes).
Tax reform.
Have you had an approach with the platforms of ‘streaming’?
I must be very clear on this, neither Spotify nor Netflix are part of our guild and we have not spoken with them either. Our concern as a union is for our members, but also in a broad sense for the digital economy. What will happen the day a new platform arrives in the region and does not have the budget to enter all the countries? It would leave Colombia last because this type of tax, such as the one created by the significant economic presence of the tax reform, does not exist in America Latin. The OECD has recommended not to implement it unilaterally and we are going to be pioneers in scaring away investment from the digital economy.
What are your proposals?
The main proposal is that mobility platforms should be regulated. Although they are legal because they are covered by the principle of net neutrality, and because several of them provide their service through the vehicle rental with driver modality, which is a service modality recognized in Colombian legislation, they have no regulations. . That is why I celebrate the announcement made by the Minister of Transport, Guillermo Reyes, in the sense of setting a clear roadmap for regulating mobility platforms during the first 100 days of the Petro Government. We are ready to engage in this dialogue.
What is the method to follow ?
What we believe is that the order of the discussions is very important: first the mobility platform services should be regulated and then there should be discussions on the tax issue or the labor issue. Likewise, we consider the Beps model that the OECD has been working on in terms of digital taxes, in addition to compliance with the free trade agreement with the United States.
(See: Entrepreneurs feel unprotected: this they would pay with taxes).
johana lorduy
