On May 26, Senator Juan Luis Castro (Green Alliance- opposition), called on the Constitutional Court to declare the Economic Growth Law non-binding (Law 2010 of 2019), saying the new tax reform does not comply with the principles of equity, efficiency and progressiveness, and only benefits a small sector of the population. In other news, the Senate of the Republic resumed voting on bills in virtual format on May 27, something which will allow the chamber to resume its debate on pending bills on hold since the start of the pandemic.

Castro questioned a series of elements contained in the Economic Growth Law, including VAT refunds for low-income families, the reduction of social security contributions and tax breaks for companies driving youth employment. “The problem with these measures is that the country ceases to receive income and increases fiscal spending instead,” he explained. The senator added that this difficulty could be solved “if we eliminated the tax exemptions for large companies which come to USD 9 billion.”

After several weeks of debate about the legality of virtual sessions, the Senate finally took the plunge and resumed voting on bills on Wednesday, May 27. The first to resume their debate and vote on regulations were the Third Committee and the Seventh Committee. Next week the Plenary is also expected to do so. We should recall that the House of Representatives had already begun to examine bills on May 14 and both committees and the Plenary had voted on bills in the Hemicycle.