Analysis of the tax burden associated to the income tax on salaried workers in Colombia, 1989 to 2018

Abstract

The National Tax Statute is established with Decree 649 of 1989. From that date until 2018 fifteen tax reforms were implemented, modifying the conditions for the refining of the tax base to determine income tax, which implies changes in the tax burden supported by tax payers. This paper allows to evidence the results of the normative analysis of changes in the tax burden for salaried workers during the established time period, in relation to possible effects on consumption, saving and investment decisions; as well as the principles of horizontal and vertical equity, progressivity, proportionality or regressivity of changes in tax levels; that is, the redistributive effects originated by the diverse normative changes. The methodology used will be the mixed analysis, applied on the tax reforms and information reported by the DIAN for the study period on the income tax declarations of natural persons.