The senator of the republic Carlos Abraham Jiménez, who is noted for his work in favor of the gambling industry, and the formal growth of it. This was the interview we made him.
MV: Senator Carlos Abraham Jiménez, What is the objective with the gambling sector of President Iván Duque when he was appointed as president?
CAJ: The first thing is that the president committed himself with the whole country to reduce taxes, increase jobs and increase legality, clearly attacking illegality. This sector understood the speech of the president of the republic and even asked him to help them in this sense, that is, in the sense that more competitive rates were achieved by lowering their taxes to 12% and that it was uniform, as It was included in the National Development Plan, so that they were uniform and that there were always profits.
Since what was happening was that it did not matter if you won or lost, even if you were charged taxes, what is sought is that you now pay taxes when you win. It was the first thing the president did, the second thing he committed to this sector of the economy was to increase formal employment positions.
Finally, the third thing he promised was to attack the illegality frontally with several tools, creating an elite group, opening some very important channels so that everything is set within the framework of legality, complying with his campaign proposals and what he promised himself in his government
MV: Under this framework, do you agree that Coljuegos argues to the operators that it is impossible to apply the new charge of 12% to old contracts, since the national development plan does not specify that it can be applied to old contracts Only the new ones.
CAJ: The laws are of immediate application in what has to do with taxes, there is no susceptibility to generate a sprain to the norm.
The second is that there are many officials who come from the previous government, so it has the previous chip, of wanting to raise more taxes on companies.
The first thing that the president has to verify is there in Coljuegos if it is with the dynamics of what the finance minister and the president have defined, in how the economic one has to be managed.
Hopefully, in the next few days after the finance minister participated in this event, it is clear that there are officials who are not in tune with what the national government wants for the formal growth of our country, and that this is a sector that has committed to the government, in fulfilling those pillars that the president wants to move forward with the country.
MV: The first day of the Gaming Market, president of Coljuegos explained in his speech that there are 12 contracts that can enjoy this new legal charge if they meet the characteristics of connectivity and reliability, however, Coljuegos has not yet regulated the “Reliability” inside the guild. What is your opinion about this?
CAJ: That Coljuegos first has to look inward at its mistakes, this sector is a sector that wants legality, which has sought to be under the whole norm.
This cannot be a sprain or a way to evade the new legal systems that the congress of the republic has directed in the participation of the national government, it must look for a way to enforce the new regulations that the president of the republic defined in the plan of developing.
And as its name expresses it is the Development Plan not of the congress of the republic but of the president of the republic that I take and present to the congress, although it is not the same what enters what comes out everything has been arranged by The president himself.
Therefore, all national government officials must be on their way, including those of Coljuegos, who in the coming months must also work to get in tune in the industry with the new regulations and legislation that has been created.
MV: Finally, what can we expect from this new elite group that is being created and when can we see it in action?
CAJ: Well, the president promised to generate a CONPES, and we hope that in this CONPES the creation of this elite body will appear, today this task is being carried out by POLFA, but it has several work fronts and when there are apprehensions it does not generate an incentive .
What we are looking for and asking for there is that there are rents that are produced by expired games and a percentage of gambling that go to governorships and majors, that these resources be redistributed again so that they go directly to POLFA to that this, have a real incentive to combat illegality, which in the end will re-found more resources for municipalities and governments.
But the control always when it has only one person or entity because it will be much more effective in comparison when that responsibility is given to 1300 mayors and the 32 governors
