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The mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Juan Mauricio Ramírez, suggested increasing the gasoline surcharge and taxes on parking lots and homes with two cars. One part of the initiative is the competence of the National government and another part would be processed in the Council, where the proposal did not go down well.
Within the framework of the Asocapitales meeting that was held this week in Ibagué, Tolima, the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, commented on a proposal that was also presented by the Secretary of the Treasury, Juan Mauricio Ramírez, during a session in the Bogotá Council. The official’s idea has to do with both the national and the district governments evaluating different tools to contribute to the economic reactivation of the capital and finance the purchase of new lots of clean energy-based public transport vehicles, although the initiative can also be in tune with the idea of discouraging the use of private vehicles, which has been in the capital for some years.
According to the Secretary of the Treasury during his speech at the council, in Asocapitales the mayor proposed to the Government some sources that may require modifications from the national level. “It was proposed, for example, to increase the surcharge on gasoline and diesel fuel, clarifying the proposals for increasing rates for Bogotá. This is one of the sources that, we believe, should be explored as a possibility to achieve greater collections ”.
Ramírez added that “the other option is taxes on households that have more cars, it could be thought of increasing the tax on motor vehicles by 20% when the owner has more than two cars.” It is worth clarifying that the proposals are not all the competence of the national government, but some such as the parking surcharge must be processed in the Council. “In the end, it is a set of instruments. Some depend more on the national government and that is why this approach was made and others depend properly on the district regulation in which the Council is fundamental ”, he concluded.
Although the proposal did not go down well with the Council and among the District’s detractors, at least the surcharge for parking lots and other sources had been proposed since the Development Plan approved by the Council itself was approved. In the section “Management of additional resources”, which is part of the second chapter where the financial strategy of the Development Plan is discussed, it is read that “the District Administration may manage different mechanisms that allow to complement the financing of the Development Plan”.
Some of those mechanisms that are proposed in the text are charges for congestion, contribution to parking lots, instruments for financing land and urban development, and others that are necessary for the fulfillment of the Development Plan. However, previously each tool must have a study and its subsequent approval before the commission and the plenary of the Council.
The new taxes, which for now are nothing more than a proposal, did not go down well with several councilors, who immediately expressed their rejection since none were mentioned during the campaign.
The mayor @ClaudiaLopez It must publicly tell the city that it asked the National Government to increase the gasoline surcharge, which if it occurs will end up increasing the price of a gallon in Bogotá.
An issue of such impact cannot go beyond stooping.
– Emel Rojas (@EmelRojasC) December 10, 2020
Councilor Samir Abisambra (Liberal Party) also stated that he did not agree with the initiative, assuring that the District has sufficient funds to cover its programs. “The Council gave the administration the tools by approving the debt quota, the budget and the Development Plan, so that they come to tax the citizens with more taxes or surcharges. The citizens cannot take it anymore, we are in a crisis that does not allow the imposition of more contributions and the Secretary of the Treasury must be told to look for different alternatives but not to affect the citizens more ”.
Faced with criticism, Mayor López affirmed that the proposal was made “unanimously by all the mayors of the capital cities”, who suggested to President Iván Duque that instead of transferring 50% of the collection of the ACPM surcharge to the cities , transfer 100% and the collection of green taxes in order to finance the economic reactivation in the different cities of the country.
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