Some Considerations on the Value-Added Tax in Colombia

Abstract

This paper discusses the way in which the Colombian Tax Code determines the taxable base of the value added tax (VAT). Our analysis shows that the Colombian legislation fails to exploit some of the theoretical advantages of the tax, as it induces cascading and distortions of input prices in production. We carry out a numerical simulation to illustrate the magnitude of these inefficiencies and show that while the Colombian VAT is clearly superior to a general sales tax, it is inferior to the theoretical implementation of the VAT. Additionally, we show that under a VAT applied across the board the Colombian and the theoretical implementation yield equal real tax revenues but different price level adjustments.