Tomado de
31/08/2021
In what was described as a historical event, and which reflects the political consensus around the project, on August 25, the economic commissions of the Congress of the Republic approved in a first debate and in a single session the “Social Investment Law” (Tax reform).
Congressmen voted for 61 articles, including those that were eliminated in the presentation for the first debate against the original project, and approved the articles issued by the Ministry of Finance and the coordinators and speakers of the initiative.
“Congress has more than shown what this policy means, the purpose of contributing to the public good of society,” said the Minister of Finance, José Manuel Restrepo, at the end of the session.
Judging by what happened during the first debate in the joint economic commissions, this project – fundamental for the National Government – will be approved without major setbacks and no substantive modifications in the debates that will take place in the plenary sessions of the Senate and Chamber as of next September 9.
In this sense, it is important to point out that the National Government will continue to bet on consensus as a formula to ensure that the bill is approved without major trauma in Congress. And it is that since he came to office, with the great challenge of presenting a new Tax Reform project in the face of the failure of Alberto Carrasquilla’s initiative, this has been the political strategy of the Minister of Finance, José Manuel Restrepo: listen, analyze and to get better.
In addition to the search for consensus by Minister Restrepo, the very content of the project has made it easier for the political parties to give it their decided support. Having excluded the middle class from paying taxes and having focused the debate on the possibilities of social programs and on how to deepen them served a lot to build agreements with the political parties that rejected Carrasquilla’s proposal.
Finally, it is also important that the new Tax Reform is not one of the points that originate social mobilization by young people who continue to demand a response to their social demands. This, however, is one of the points demanded by the National Unemployment Committee (CNP) that last Thursday, April 26, marched in the streets of several cities with a very low call.
In terms of time, by legislative regulation (15 calendar days are required between the approval in committees and the plenary session), the Tax Reform will be discussed in the plenary sessions of the Senate and Chamber (it could be simultaneous) starting next Thursday, September 9. If all goes smoothly as expected, the initiative will meet the government’s schedule: approval in mid-September and enactment in early October.
Here are some of the basic points of the Tax Reform project that will be discussed in the plenary sessions of the Senate and Chamber: