This Tuesday, the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, submitted to Congress the tax reform of the Petro Government that seeks to collect $12 billion.
The project is divided into three parts. The first, incentives for the business sector; the second, changes in some taxes to collect $6 billion; and the third, to advance the Fiscal Rule from 2026 to 2025 to free up $5.6 billion.
Among some curiosities of the project, it is proposed to raise the VAT for hybrid vehicles from 5% to 10% "because the Dian identified that they are high consumers of gasoline, it is not at all about energy transition."
Regarding the gambling industry, the Third Commission of the Senate of the Republic has raised the idea of taxing the online gaming modality in Colombia with VAT, which in the eyes of the spokesmen is a terrible tax error since "taxing with new taxes a sector that already registers high costs, that has survived despite the high phenomenon of illegality and that has numerous taxes makes the activity completely unviable. It means not only putting at risk the jobs of more than 150,000 people in Colombia but also the contribution of more than 400,000 million pesos in exploitation rights for the health of Colombians, without counting other taxes such as income." Increase in VAT on Online Gambling Platforms will make the business unviable in Colombia.
In turn, localized games would be taxed with three times the current tax, that is, forty (40) Tax Value Units (UVT), the gaming tables would be constituted by the value corresponding to five hundred and eighty (580) Tax Value Units (UVT). In the case of electronic slot machines that operate in premises whose main commercial activity may be different from games of chance and luck, the monthly taxable base would be constituted by the value corresponding to twenty (20) Tax Value Units (UVT). In the case of bingo games, the monthly taxable base would be constituted by the value corresponding to six (6) Tax Value Units (UVT) for each chair.
Meanwhile, the tax on occasional profits would go from 20% to 25%, which represents an increase of 5 percentage points, for resources from lotteries, raffles, bets or similar.
The objections to this project have not been long in coming in light of the statement it makes “on the inelastic nature of games of chance and being openly considered as luxury goods”
It was expected that at the GATexpo held this Friday, September 8, 2024, Coljuegos, headed by its president Marco E Hincapié, would clear up the rumors and the future of those located, which have been brewing since he took office, but the entity was not present, claiming that it was at a tribute by the lotteries.
