The fiscal impact of the days without VAT in 2023, according to Minhacienda

By the end of September, the National Government, at the head of Minister of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo, confirmed that the days without VAT, at last, will be maintained by 2023. And they were included in the tax reform project.

Of those days it is known that they would go from three days to two and the tentative dates would be in February and August of next year. In addition, that the products that would have the discount would be only the national ones.

Among them would be:

– Clothing (sales price per unit equal to or less than 20 UVT, about 760,080 pesos for 2022).

– Wardrobe accessories, such as backpacks, briefcases, handbags, wallets, glasses (sale price per unit equal to or less than 20 UVT, about 760,080 pesos).

– Electrical appliances used in the home, such as televisions, speakers for domestic use, tablets, refrigerators, freezers, electric dishwashers (sales price per unit equal to or less than 80 UVT, about 3 million pesos).

– Specialized articles for the practice of sports, such as rubber balls, rubber bands, balls, rackets, bats, mallets, swimming goggles, bicycles (sale price per unit equal to or less than 80 UVT, about 3 million pesos).

– Objects to entertain and amuse people, such as dolls, toy animals, toy musical instruments and playing cards (sales price per unit is equal to or less than 15 UVT, about 570,000 pesos).

– Articles necessary for the development of pedagogical activities, such as notebooks, educational software, pencils, erasers, plasticine, glue and scissors (sale price per unit equal to or less than 15 UVT, about 570,000 pesos).

– Goods and supplies for the agricultural sector, such as seeds, fruits for planting, fertilizers of animal origin, insecticides, herbicides, mowers and harvesters (sales price per unit is equal to or less than 80 UVT, about 3 million pesos).

“The days will only be for national products, because the days without VAT that have been running were for imported products and that is not the purpose of that tax benefit.”, said Ocampo when he explained why he gave his endorsement these days.

And taking into account that the Petro government was critical of these days, which were flag of economic revitalization of the mandate of Iván Duque, what will be the fiscal impact they will have in 2023.

Faced with this, Ocampo himself revealed that the calculations they make are around $100 billion, “relatively small and that will be compensated with a positive impact for the national industry“.

Although he changed his mind, from the Government had a position against the day without VAT.

At the time, it was said that the conferences had “negative effects on tax collection, to the extent that it reduces the tax revenue associated with the collection of this tax and generates administrative difficulties in tax matters. In addition, they are highly regressive, since households with higher incomes are the ones that consume the most“.

The Fedesarrollo study center, For its part, it also requested, in June 2022, that the days without VAT be eliminated, since “they have a regressive incidence”. That is to say, those who obtain benefits these days are people with medium and high incomes“.

Hermes Martínez, director of operations for the firm Values ​​AAA, said, for his part, the days without VAT motivate Colombians to spend, because “they feel they have greater purchasing power and have the luxury of buying products at lower prices“.

Jeisson Balaguera, executive director of Values ​​AAA, said, for his part, that these conferences leave a lower collection in terms of taxes, “but there are more financial transactions and the Government receives resources: some of these payments leave an important collection and inflation decreases, because the products have a lower price and that encourages economic growth“.

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