EspañolPresident of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski made reference to one of the more controversial parts of Colombia’s tax plan during the eleventh annual Ibero-American Business Meeting in Colombia late last month, offering up his own suggestions for the country’s policy.
In the conversation with President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, PPK said Latin America was a place that had lots of entrepreneurship, especially in the case of Peru. He said that in his country, they were looking for ways to reduce bureaucratic procedures to create business and make it easy for a person to legally open a business in a day.
Additionally he said it was important to reduce income taxes to encourage business creation, as such a tax is a barrier to the formalization of companies. It was during this topic of conversation that he referenced Colombia and the reforms going through its Congress.
PPK said that in his country, the income tax is the same as the VAT. The Colombian government is looking to raise its taxes from 16 percent to 19 percent. The Peruvian President said laughingly that he advises Colombia “not to do that.”
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He also said income tax must be simplified so small businesses pay 10 percent during the first 10 years of their creation as well as address those organizations that prevent resources from being co-opted by the corrupt.