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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Colombia: Far-Left President’s Ambitious Tax Plan Will Slam Oil, Coal Industries with Higher Taxes

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2022/11/07/colombia-far-left-presidents-ambitious-tax-plan-will-slam-oil-coal-industries-higher-taxes/

LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images

The ambitious tax reform spearheaded by Colombia’s far-left president Gustavo Petro was finally approved by both chambers of Colombia’s Congress on Thursday. The tax plan, introduced by Petro a day after he took office in August, hopes to collect upwards of 20 billion Colombian Pesos ($4 billion) from 2023 onwards.

One of the industries most affected by the upcoming tax reform is Colombia’s oil and coal industries, both of which the far-left president vehemently campaigned against with ‘green’ policies that seek to transition the South American nation away from fossil fuels.

Historically, Colombia has been the South American country with the least amount of taxes. The new reform, considered by far to be the most significant in more than three decades, makes the nation’s coal and oil industries responsible for 9 out of the 20 billion Colombian pesos that the far-left government hopes to receive.

The changes introduce the non-deductibility of royalties in the income tax paid by hydrocarbon and mining companies, with additional surcharges that can be imposed on carbon and oil extraction. The surcharges, which will depend on fluctuations on international market prices, range from 5 to 10 percent for coal, and from 5 to 15 percent for oil. In the case of oil, the total tariffs can reach of up to 50 percent if international oil prices go above 60 percent of its 10-year average.

The upcoming tax reform has also caused uncertainty in the future of the country and it’s currency, the Colombian peso, which lost 20 percent of its value between August 7 and November 7, reaching historical lows of more than $5,000 Colombian pesos per U.S. dollar. Colombia’s inter-annual inflation reached 12.22 percent in October, the highest recorded percentage in the century.

In an interview given to the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Colombian Finance Minister José Antonio Ocampo defended the reform. “There is no reason to fear for Colombia’s macroeconomic stability,” Ocampo said, “the private sector is responsible for the panic and needs to stop sending negative signals.”

The WSJ report also quoted Ricardo Triana, director of Colombia’s Council of American Companies, who said that the tax changes could open Colombia to lawsuits from U.S. firms that could see the new changes as “a breach of contract and violation of the free-trade agreements” signed between the two countries.

The Colombian Association of Petroleum Engineers also reacted to the upcoming changes.

“We express great concern and signs of alarm for the country and its inhabitants due to the tax reform approved in the Congress of the Republic, given that it makes the hydrocarbon industry responsible for contributing almost $9 billion, of the $20 billion that the National Government expects to collect, a clear sign of asymmetry and fiscal inequity with a sector that today is one of the main generators of current income, exports and direct foreign investment in our nation,” the association said.

The tax reform also imposes new sweeping changes to Colombian citizens, who will have to pay new income taxes and new taxes imposed to food and services.

Colombians who earn more than 10 million Colombian Pesos (roughly $2,000) per month will see an increase in their income taxes. An increase on the ‘occasional income’ taxes — which housing related transactions fall into — from 10 to 15 percent will heavily affect the housing market in Colombia, making it harder to sell and more expensive to buy properties.

The Petro plan also introduces ‘healthy taxes’ on groceries such as sugary drinks, sausages, hamburger meat, and chocolates, as well as in other product that the Colombian government has deemed that “help promote diseases and deterioration in the health of Colombians,” such as instant coffee, sauces, sweet cookies, nuts, peanuts, sugary drinks, and marshmallows.

Big-bottomed ants, a traditional food from Colombia’s Santander department (i.e. state), were also included in the taxes as “ultra processed” foods. While bread was not taxed, other pastry and bakery products will now incur taxes, raising costs to Colombian consumers.

Churches and elderly pensions, which were going to be taxed under the reform’s original draft, were left exempt from the approved version. Online digital platforms such as online music or television streaming services, or study-related digital platforms, will be subject to new taxes under the upcoming code.

Petro’s government seeks to use the increased tax revenue on social spending programs. Both chambers of Colombia’s congress are expected to conciliate the approved reform on Tuesday for its corresponding signing by president Gustavo Petro at some point later.

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