“New Sources of Funding to Sustain the System in the Long Term”
El Espectador reports:
“Another important pillar of Acemi’s proposal is to secure new sources of funding to sustain the system in the long term. The proposal calls for raising taxes on tobacco and vapes, channelling so-called health taxes directly to ADRES (the ‘health bank’), charging more on online gambling, and removing the cap on contributions for high-income earners.”
Other Articles on the Same Topic
- What the Next Government Should Consider on Taxes (El Espectador)
Assessment
Acemi’s document lands less than a year after Colombia’s third Petro-era tax reform collapsed in Congress, and after alcohol industry lobbying stripped beer and spirits taxes out of the financing bill even before that vote. The reform had originally proposed restructuring excise duties on beer, wine and spirits, aligning Colombia more closely with international best practice on health taxation.
The Acemi proposal names tobacco, vapes and online gambling as the excise categories worth expanding, and asks that revenue from the country’s “health taxes” flow directly to ADRES, the public payer for the health system. The document does not yet name alcohol – the country’s most politically contested health tax and the one most consequential for both fiscal capacity and public health.
With the next government’s tax agenda already taking shape, and a major insurer association now publicly endorsing health-related excises as a route to a sustainable health system, the case for adding alcohol to that package is real.