The most recent social pulse survey of June 2022, from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), stated that one out of every three Colombians surveyed believes that they should not pay taxes.
(Read: Consumer confidence in the country increased in June to 38.4 points).
The people consulted stated that their tax payments are far from what is taxed in the country. For example, the population that considers itself poor stated that on average they make payments for 20% of their income in taxes.
However, only 7% of workers pay income tax with rates that are mostly below 20%.
Likewise, those who pay this tax must have incomes greater than 3.5 million pesos per month. This implies 10 times the country’s poverty line.
On the other hand, the payment of VAT on certain purchases does not have a significant weight in the purchases of poor people, according to experts. The highest acquisition weights in this population are in basic goods that are exempt from this tax.
According to the survey responses, while 33% of those consulted believe that they should not pay taxes, 22% of the same sample say that they do not. Likewise, 63% affirm that taxes should be paid but that these should be less than 20% of income.
Along with this, 3.8% consider that it should be pay between 20 and 40 percent of income and 0.6 percent, between 40 and 60 percent.
Regarding the payments they make, 34% stated that less than 20% of their income is taxed. In contrast, 0.3% of those surveyed believe that more than 80% of their income is taxed.
The survey also inquired about consumer confidence. This indicator improved in June compared to May 2022. In this sense, for households of the 23 main cities of the country was 38.4 points. That is, an increase of almost 3 points compared to the value of 35.4 in May 2022, the Dane reported.
(Also: Doubts about the effect of consumption in the tax on sugary drinks).
“This indicates that we are coming out of that very important period of stagnation that we saw since December 2021, when the confidence indicator reached a level of 39.3”, said Juan Daniel Oviedo, director of Dane.
BRIEFCASE
