Despite poverty rate, Colombia wants to tax basic necessities

by Adriaan Alsema August 24, 2018

A week after proposing to tax lower class incomes, Colombia’s finance minister on Thursday proposed to introduce sales tax on basic food products.

The proposal of Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla would disproportionately affect the poor and the more than 50% of working Colombians who earn the monthly minimum wage.

Their cost of living consists almost entirely of the “products that are currently exempt from sales tax to avoid endangering poor and lower class’families’ food security even further.

. . .

Carrasquilla confirmed last week that the government wants to lower taxes, but only for corporations; more citizens will pay more taxes. According to the minister, the plan is to begin taxing monthly wages higher than $623 (COP1.9 million) instead of $1,200 (COP3.7 million), the current threshold.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/despite-widespread-poverty-colombia-wants-to-introduce-sales-tax-on-basic-necessities/