With a series of proposals on food taxed in the tax reform project, the plenary session of the House of Representatives meets at this time to deliberate on the matter. The discussion about sugary drinks and their implications for health and the family basket captured much of the debate. The ‘monkey’ of mega-pensions abroad was also approved.
According to what EL TIEMPO learned, the taxes mentioned in article 45 of the tax reform on ultra-processed foods would leave out their implications on bread.
(You may be interested: Tax reform: the tough discussion in the Chamber for the tax on bread).
Session adjourned
At 10:40 at night, the president of the Chamber, David Racero, adjourned the plenary session on Wednesday and reconvened the representatives for Thursday at 8 in the morning. In this it is planned to continue the debate on the tax reform and present the conciliation report of Law 418, which regulates the ‘total peace’, and other announced projects.
More approved articles of the reform
Articles 57, 58 and 59 of the tax reform were also approved after being voted on en bloc. The same happened with points 8, 12, 13, 16, 22, 28 and 37.
Approved the ‘mico’ of mega-pensions abroad
The block of articles 9, 14, 15, 24, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 41, 66, 74 and 75 of the tax reform were approved in the Chamber with 129 votes in favor and 32 against.
This means that article 9, which Germán Vargas Lleras called a ‘monkey’ regarding exemptions for mega-pensions abroad, was approved by the lower house of Congress. With regard to this, this same Wednesday, November 2, the Senate had denied said article.
This means that representatives of both bodies of the corporation will meet for a conciliation, in which said regulation can die or revive.
Healthy tax article: this is how it was voted
The endorsed proposal of article 45 of the tax reform in the Chamber, concerning ultra-processed foods, was approved with 125 votes in favor and 32 against.
Thus, foods such as those resulting from pastries, cookies and dry pasta would see the application of the healthy tax.
In this sense, ultra-processed drinks and foods with a high amount of added sugars will only have an exemption from the healthy tax when they are donated to food banks that are part of the church or the special tax regime.
In addition, products such as arequipe or dulce de leche, bread, wafers and guava sandwiches would not increase in price due to the tax. That is, they would be exempt.
Ultra-processed foods with a high content of added sugars would have no additional value when exported by a producer.
point of order
After the vote on the proposals to modify the healthy taxes of article 45 of the tax reform, some parliamentarians complained about the planning at the time of voting, because, they assured, some of the proposed modifications were contradictory to each other, but They were voted together. All this took place in the middle of a point of order.
Voting on propositions not endorsed
With 113 votes, in the Chamber the proposals that had not been previously endorsed with respect to article 45 were denied. In favor of them there were only 43 votes.
Article 45 of the tax reform is the one referring to taxes for ultra-processed foods. In this sense, the deliberation in the House ultimately revolved around the consequences of approving taxes on sugary drinks.
The but to the reform of a government representative
“We all agree on one thing: we are concerned about the possible increase that, if article 45 is approved as it is, it could cause in the family basket,” explained Catherine Juvinao, of Alianza Verde.
Juvinao argued that, despite being in government and defending tax reform in general, he prefers to discuss the tax on sugary drinks separately.
Withdrawal due to conflict of interest
“I declare myself disabled and they tell me that my disability is denied. I record that I withdraw from the venue,” said representative Juan Carlos Losada.
Losada explained that the conflict of interest that falls on him does not disappear because it is denied in the Chamber, so he chose to make the decision to leave the plenary, in order to avoid a possible loss of investiture and invited the other congressmen in your situation to follow their example.
However, the representative urged the Government to prevent sugar-sweetened beverage companies from replacing sugars with sweeteners, since the latter would also have adverse effects on health.
The Partido de la U left the premises
Around eight o’clock at night, the bench of the Party of the U in the Chamber left the premises in the midst of a heated discussion regarding healthy taxes.
This is how article 45 of the reform was modified in the Chamber
Within the proposals endorsed to modify article 45, are the food banks that, for example, have the churches, are included among the events that do not generate sugary drinks.
In addition, among the products exempt from the ultra-processed tax would be: arequipe or dulce de leche, bread and wafers.
Complaints of conflicts of interest
“There are people who should not be in this debate because we are talking about sugary drinks and there are parliamentarians who received donations from sugar mills and soft drink companies, as well as from other companies,” accused representative Jorge Ocampo, of the Historical Pact.
In that sense, he directly pointed out the representatives Christian Garcés, Andrés Forero, José Uscátegui, Holmes Echeverría and Carolina Arbeláez, among others, for this alleged conflict of interest.
Christian Garcés, congressman for the Democratic Center, responded to these statements and asserted that “the Petristas want to silence him.”
In this sense, José Uscátegui also answered and stated that “he has nothing to hide” and invited Ocampo to “tell the truth” or, otherwise, they would meet in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Criticism of article 45 of the reform
Alianza Verde representative Katherine Miranda assured that her community was the one who managed to eliminate the tax on bread mentioned in the article referring to ultra-processed foods in the bill.
However, opposition congressmen such as Miguel Polo Polo had been emphatic in their opposition to the tax reform and, especially, to the taxation of ultra-processed foods. This fact was classified as “a blow to the poorest Colombian households.”