2024-08-16 10:29:41
“Tourist housing must be regulated.” The economic sectors were heard in the Council regarding the tax update. There were several requests, such as that of Usco, which would have to pay a high property tax. Equally striking was Cotelco’s call regarding housing used for lodging on platforms such as Airbnb, which do not have any tax burden and are affecting the hotel sector.
HUILA DAILY, ECONOMY
By: Gustavo Patiño
In the Neiva council, a discussion was held with the different representatives of the city’s economic sectors to hear their opinions on draft agreement 021 of 2024 “By means of which the municipal tax statute of Neiva is partially modified and other measures are dictated”, which proposes, among other things, the restructuring of the collection of property tax and the collection of the industry and commerce tax in the municipality. In this way, the councilors listened to Camacol, Cotelco, Asoccoph, the Chamber of Commerce of Huila, Universidad Surcolombiana, among others, who made requests that, it is hoped, will be taken into account for the discussion and approval of the draft agreement.
A very expensive property tax
In their speech, the representatives of the Universidad Surcolombiana, which under the current Tax Statute is exempt from paying property tax and which the update proposed by the Mayor’s Office proposes to eliminate, pointed out that this charge would generate a great impact on the institution, which already has a deficit like all public universities nationwide, which would affect its operation. Juan Sebastián Reyes, representative of the graduates before the Supreme University Council, assured that currently the alma mater has 15,382 students, of which 11,921 are from the city of Neiva and of whom 90% are from strata 1 and 2.
“I invite you to take this test: Do we prefer to improve the financial health or the Municipal Budget at the expense of damaging the budget of the main higher education entity in the region, not only in Neiva?” he asked, urging the councilors to reflect on the long-term consequences of the measure.
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“The law protects us”
For his part, Carlos Alberto Álvarez, head of the Accounting Unit of the Universidad Surcolombiana, emphasized that the institution, as a public higher education entity, is exempt from various taxes at the national level, including income tax and VAT. “The law protects us,” said Álvarez Ortiz, and recalled that municipalities such as Palermo and Yaguará, where the University also has a presence, have declared their properties exempt from property tax.
This exemption, according to the official, is essential for the self-financing of the University, allowing it to reinvest in its operation and development, “currently the university began the year 2024 with a deficit of approximately 4,000 million pesos, the approximate data that we have regarding what is the liquidation of the property tax, which we would have to basically cancel for the year 2024 is 379,384,000 according to the projection that has already been made by the Ministry of Finance.”
The Hospital could pay
Regarding the situation with the Universidad Surcolombiana, in conversation with Diario del Huila, councilman Juan Amaya said that a series of technical meetings will be held with the Treasury Department and the University to find solutions, “we understand the mission of the most important public university in the municipality and we will have a technical meeting with representatives of the University and the Treasury Department to see what solution is found,” he said.
And he said that the Hernando Moncaleano Perdomo University Hospital is in a similar situation, but it does have a way to pay the property tax because it generates profits from the provision of services. “The hospital would also be affected, but it is striking that we have learned from press clippings and other sources that the hospital made profits last year, because let us remember that they sell services for more than 46 billion pesos. Those profits are from their missionary projects, so it could have a little more capacity. In addition, it would pay less than the Universidad Surcolombiana, they would pay between 200 and 300 million pesos because their facility is smaller,” he added.
The ICA in the solidarity sector
For his part, Cesar Ruano, who spoke on behalf of the Association of Cooperatives of Huila – Asocooph, said that the solidarity sector, in addition to benefiting its members, also has a high impact on citizens with social intervention projects, “in the municipality of Neiva we have 52 organizations of the solidarity economy and we have about 354,000 members,” he said.
“We permeate many sectors of the economy, such as transportation, we belong to employee funds, we have integration of associated work cooperatives, we integrate agricultural cooperatives, so this is important for you to take into account, but a very important fact for you, councilors, is that we are currently generating close to 1,113 direct jobs only in the city of Neiva, but beyond jobs, we benefit our associates and non-associates through the services we offer them in education, sports, the environment, agriculture, the complementary health network, and formal education,” he said.
She stated that, despite the fact that the Treasury Department had indicated that cities like Medellín had an ICA of 11 per 1,000 for solidarity organizations, “we took on the task of investigating and in accordance with agreement 093, the Medellín Municipal Council decided to exempt organizations of the solidarity economy, taking into account the implementation and the benefit and the social impact that we have as organizations and that is why it is important that you take this into account and that is why today as organizations of the solidarity economy we ask the honorable councilors to carry out the exemption of the industry and commerce tax for cooperatives,” she requested.
Airbnb has the hotel sector in check
One of the aspects that attracted the most attention was the data provided by Lina Marcela Rivera, representative of Cotelco, who assured that the hotel sector in the municipality has been affected by the proliferation of homes used for lodging applications such as Airbnb, which do not pay all the regulatory taxation to the hotels, “from Cotelco we want to bring to the attention of the councilors an issue that has us quite concerned: tourist homes have gone in recent years from 10 in 2021 to around 200 in 2024, at this time they exceed the number of accommodation establishments that we have in total in the municipality of Neiva, what does this mean? From Cotelco we see a need to balance the tax burdens, especially tax and others, among accommodation service providers,” she said.
He said that hotels have 17 taxes that, in the case of tourist accommodation, do not have to be paid. This creates an imbalance in competition. Therefore, he asked that a regulation of these tourist accommodations be developed. Since these “do not have the tax burden, nor the rates, nor contributions. Much less do they pay for public services such as the energy surcharge, which my sector does pay. The energy surcharge is paid only by accommodation establishments and corresponds to 20% of the total energy bill. That is not paid by a tourist accommodation. It pays public services as a residential, not as a commercial, many times not even ICA, nor boards.” When accommodation establishments do generate jobs. “A lodging establishment with 100 beds, on average is generating between 60 and 70 formal jobs,” he concluded.
They must be regulated
The president of the Council pointed out to this media that this is a case of concern. Since, in addition to the data provided by Cotelco in the plenary session, there is no specific data on how many homes are being used in these applications for lodging. “We do not have the figures but this investigation is being carried out. In addition, it would imply a very careful work on the part of the Revenue Office and that should be stipulated. Industry and Commerce have to pay, just as hotels do. Welcome, let them compete, but on equal terms,” said Aamaya. He said that in the case of the hotel industry in the municipality, the case of the Hotel Plaza is worrying. It was declared a heritage of the city years ago.
“The Plaza Hotel is also in a difficult situation, it is a symbol of the center of Neiva. More so with a very particular architecture, very pretty in front of the Santander Park, but it is in crisis. It has an occupancy of less than 28% this year, it has been difficult for them to compete against platforms like Airbnb. They do not pay and they are requesting that, as architectural heritage of the municipality, they maintain the exemption that they currently have, which I believe is 50%, we are reviewing, because it seems very sensible to me,” he said.
The document presented by the Mayor to the Council will continue to be discussed by the city council. It is expected that next week a plenary session will be held in which the debate can take place so that a final agreement can be reached.