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What many feared was confirmed. After the declaration of Economic Emergency, the Government of Gustavo Petro already has ready the package of new taxes that will begin to be collected without having to go through Congress. The measure, which has been described by opposition sectors as a “fiscal decree”, seeks to raise resources immediately, hitting key sectors of consumption and property.

The Government’s fiscal “darts”: What are they going to charge us?

Unlike a conventional tax reform, these taxes come into force expressly. According to the known draft, the points that will most impact Colombians are:

Tax on “Extraordinary Gains”: A tax focused on sectors that the Government considers have had excessive profits in the last year, especially in the financial and energy sectors.

Surtax on Underutilized Rural Property: It seeks to economically punish those who have unexploited productive lands, a measure that generates tension in the agricultural sector.

New taxes on luxury consumption: The list of goods considered “high-end” will be expanded, which will have an additional surcharge under the justification of the crisis.

Adjustment in environmental rates: Increases in payments for emissions and use of plastics, under the framework of the energy transition.

Is it legal to collect taxes by decree?

Here lies the great controversy. Constitutional experts warn that the Constitutional Court will have the last word. Although the economic emergency allows the President to legislate in an extraordinary manner, these taxes can only be in effect temporarily unless Congress ratifies them later.

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For analysts like Luis Guillermo Patiño and other critics in Antioquia, this is a “desperate maneuver” to cover the fiscal gap left by the fall of other projects in the Capitol.

Start subtracting from the minimum: these are the first taxes decreed by Petro due to economic emergency

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