Via Reuters:  Colombia Congress passes tax reform to contain deficit

Colombia’s lower house passed a tax law that will earn the government 53 trillion pesos ($22.3 billion) over the next four years mostly from businesses, by extending and modifying existing taxes that will expire at the end of this year.

The package was passed by the Senate last week and now awaits the president’s signature. It extends a three-year wealth tax that will raise 12.5 trillion pesos in 2015 alone.

The reform comes at a time when Colombia’s government faces a sharp fall in revenue from its top export, crude oil, after a roughly 40 percent fall in its price since June. That is set to dent government finances and has led to a weakening of the peso.