The Treasury Department stated that the bill will not affect most taxpayers, after the proposed increase in April caused protests.

The Colombian government formally submitted a $3.95 billion tax reform bill to Congress on Tuesday as unions and student groups tried to revive Street protest This helps disrupt the initial iteration of reform.

Funds raised by the law will be significantly lower than the $6.3 billion package the government seeks. April proposal It was later withdrawn due to large-scale demonstrations and opposition from legislators.

President Ivan Duque’s government insists that this measure is crucial in a period of rising debt and widening fiscal deficits and must be passed to support social programs.

“The social investment law that we will enact among all of us is the biggest leap in human development in recent decades,” Duke told lawmakers on Columbia Independence Day when Congress opened the second legislative period of this year.

But beginning in late April, the previous tax proposal pushed thousands of Colombian people onto the streets for several weeks, because critics said the legislation would cause disproportionate harm to the country’s workers and middle class.

The weekly protests are time out Last month, it was later expanded to include a wide range of needs, including greater economic and educational equity, and ending Police violence against demonstrators.

Protesters On Tuesday, I took to the streets of several cities to celebrate Colombia’s Independence Day again, demanding police reform and the government to provide greater support after the coronavirus pandemic. In this 50-year-old country, the poverty rate has risen from 37% to 42%. Million.

The protesters gathered in Bogotá expressed doubts about the government’s commitment to reforming the police and improving opportunities for young people, including a 25% minimum wage subsidy for companies employing young people aged 18 to 28, a provision in tax reforms.

“I hope that Congress will eventually begin legislation to support the interests of all Colombians, not just a group of people who have become rich,” Ivan Zapata, a 46-year-old dentist who protested in the capital, told AFP.

The demonstration was convened by the influential National Strike Committee representing indigenous people, trade unions and students.

Performers participating in an anti-government march in Bogotá, Colombia [Nathalia Angarita/Reuters]

The group has suspended its protest On June 15th, they promised to activate them again on National Independence Day, with the purpose of submitting the protesters’ demands to Congress.

Noelia Castro, a 30-year-old teacher who attended the Bogotá rally, said: “We are fighting to recognize our right to health, education and freedom from violence.”

Large-scale protests began on April 28, lasted for about six weeks, and occasionally turned into violence.

The Attorney General’s Office has direct contact More than two dozen deaths Protests, and human rights organizations said they have confirmed more.

The major unions said they will propose 10 reform proposals to Congress, including the creation of basic income.