AFP, Bogota :
Colombia’s Congress passed a tax reform bill Friday in a victory for President Juan Manuel Santos, who is fighting the threat of a credit downgrade amid a slump in oil revenues.
The win in Congress comes at a delicate time for Santos, who is seeking to implement a controversial and costly peace deal with the FARC rebel group just as the Colombian economy is feeling the pain of the global plunge in prices for its top export.
The core of the tax reform is an increase in the sales tax rate from 16 to 19 percent, an unpopular measure that Santos insists is the best way to shore up the government’s increasingly shaky accounts.
The Senate passed the measure in the early hours of Friday, a day after it cleared the lower house.
Differences between the two versions of the bill must still be worked out in committee before it goes to Santos to be signed. The administration praised lawmakers for getting on board.
“These decisions aren’t easy. They are unpopular on the first reading. But behind that is the greater interest of the nation,” said Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas.
Colombia’s Congress passed a tax reform bill Friday in a victory for President Juan Manuel Santos, who is fighting the threat of a credit downgrade amid a slump in oil revenues.
The win in Congress comes at a delicate time for Santos, who is seeking to implement a controversial and costly peace deal with the FARC rebel group just as the Colombian economy is feeling the pain of the global plunge in prices for its top export.
The core of the tax reform is an increase in the sales tax rate from 16 to 19 percent, an unpopular measure that Santos insists is the best way to shore up the government’s increasingly shaky accounts.
The Senate passed the measure in the early hours of Friday, a day after it cleared the lower house.
Differences between the two versions of the bill must still be worked out in committee before it goes to Santos to be signed. The administration praised lawmakers for getting on board.
“These decisions aren’t easy. They are unpopular on the first reading. But behind that is the greater interest of the nation,” said Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas.
