The President of Colombia orders the withdrawal of tax reform from Congress

(CNN Español) – Colombia’s President, Evan Duque, on Sunday decided to withdraw the tax reform project, an initiative presented by Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla to be addressed in the Congress of the Republic on April 15th.

The decision comes after mass rallies and demonstrations rejecting this project, which ended in abuses and serious confrontations between civilians and public forces.

As mentioned in the text, the tax reform project sought to tax basic household products, increase the cost of gasoline, and broaden the taxable base for income tax, solidarity tax on higher salaries, and a two-year wealth tax. , Value-added tax for funeral services and internet services, among others.

According to the arguments of the Minister of Finance, the financial initiative sought to obtain resources equivalent to 6000 million US dollars annually to be able to continue social programs to help the poorest and who have lost everything due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus. 19 Pandemic.

However, the reform was not well received by Colombians who have taken to the streets in large numbers since last Wednesday at the invitation of the organizers of the so-called national strike, refusing to announce new taxes. Many of these demonstrations ended in violence, abuse and vandalism. Hundreds of civilians and police were injured and several people were killed in the midst of the clashes in cities such as Bogota, Cali and Medellin.

Almost all political parties were unanimous that reform came at an inopportune and uncomfortable time due to the moment of crisis the country is experiencing in economic matters.

in that Title this Sunday Duque stressed that reform is still necessary to clean up the public finances of the state and continue with social programs, and for this he called for urgent treatment of a new text as a result of consensus that includes recommendations of various political and social sectors, in order to “avoid financial uncertainty.”