Colombia Finances at Risk From Legal Challenge to 2019 Tax Hikes
Oscar Medina, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- Colombian tax increases which took effect at the start of the year are being challenged in the Constitutional Court, posing a threat to government revenue.
A motion filed by former Vice President German Vargas argues that procedural errors during the passing of the financing bill violate the constitution, according to a copy of the document sent to Bloomberg by Vargas’s office.
The motion calls for money raised by the legislation to be returned.
The law raised taxes on individuals, and would have cut them on companies from 2020. Vargas’s motion argues that the 2018 legislation failed to comply with an article of the constitution which requires that bills must first be published before approval by a congressional committee.
The Finance Ministry didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment, sent outside normal business hours.
Jose Gregorio Hernandez, a former president of the Constitutional Court, said that such a procedural error is indeed grounds for repealing the law.
More:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/colombia-finances-at-risk-from-legal-challenge-to-2019-tax-hikes-1.1307200
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Bogota’s solar-powered gondola gives slum dwellers a lift
Published 2 months ago on 19 June 2019
A cable car of the solar-powered TransMicable system runs above Ciudad Bolivar in Bogota, Colombia June 5, 2019. — Thomson Reuters Foundation pic
BOGOTA, June 19 — Sweeping above sprawling slums in the upper reaches of one of Bogota’s poorest hillside shantytowns, Yobana Bonella sits comfortably in a solar-powered gondola ferrying thousands of residents up to their homes, leaving almost no carbon footprint.
With two solar panels atop each cable car, the system called “TransMiCable” transports about 20,000 residents a day living in the southern neighbourhood of Ciudad Bolivar, up and down the mountain in under 15 minutes and for less than US$1 (RM4.18) per journey.
The 3.5km TransMiCable, launched in December, has not only more than halved journey times but is helping cut traffic congestion, air pollution and planet-warming emissions.
“I’ve really benefited from the TransMiCable because it saves time,” said 38-year-old nanny Bonella, riding a red cable car on her way home from work. “Each wagon has solar panels which I think is nice — it helps to conserve the environment.”
More:
https://www.malaymail.com/news/life/2019/06/19/bogotas-solar-powered-gondola-gives-slum-dwellers-a-lift/1763231