The Colombian government took in 12.6 trillion Colombian pesos ($6.6 billion) in taxes during the first two months of this year, its finance minister said Thursday.
Juan Carlos Echeverry told reporters at an event in Bogota the figure outstripped the government’s collection target of about COP12 trillion. The revenue collected also beats last year’s intake of COP11.63 trillion during the same period.
Colombia’s tax intake was expected to increase this year after President Juan Manuel Santos lowered the threshold on a wealth tax to help pay for a recovery from devastating rains and floods in 2010. Santos also decreed that a financial transactions tax will remain in place until 2014.