Colombia Poised to Approve Permanent Wealth Tax Measure

Wealthy Colombians face a permanent tax on their assets starting Jan. 1 under a broad tax reform bill poised to pass Congress soon.

Lawmakers already approved the tax package Nov. 3—the House and Senate plan a vote on a final package, possibly as soon as this week, after working out differences. The government hopes to boost annual revenue by about $4 billion to help fund increased public spending—a goal championed by the recently elected government of Gustavo Petro.

José Antonio Ocampo, Colombia’s finance minister, told an IMF-World Bank meeting in Washington last month that Colombia has “the double challenge” of ...