The infinite benefits of the orange economy

The great banner of the current government was the orange economy. It was the right bet, and its implementation is on the right track. The orange economy, according to the Ministry of Culture, is a social development tool that integrates the arts, cultural heritage (tangible and intangible), cultural industries and functional creations. It arises as a mandatory bet so that the State (which could not take advantage of the oil bonanza of past years to diversify its sources of income) can rely on other items other than taxes to be able to finance itself.

The big bet then is to go from depending on the State's mineral resources (oil, coal, etc.) to depend on the fruits of the exploitation of talent, the dynamization of our cultural heritage and new technological creations.

The bet is brilliant because, contrary to what happens with non-renewable mineral resources, talent is unlimited, renewable, easy to transport, and it is in all of us.

The government's approach to promote this policy was the right one; tax benefits (granting of income exemptions for seven years for those who develop an orange economy project), financial benefits (special credit lines in Bancoldex and Findeter and financing with resources from the orange bonds), territorial benefits through the creation (in the National Development Plan - PND-) of the so-called Orange Development Areas that will serve as hubs for the promotion of creative industries and that may have multiple tax benefits for companies that acquire properties or operate from there (reduction of property taxes, exemption of land taxes, exemption of the land tax, exemption of the tax on the use of land and buildings, exemption of the tax on the use of land and buildings, exemption of the tax on the use of land and buildings, exemption of the tax on the use of land and buildings, exemption of the tax on the use of land and buildings, exemption of the tax on the use of land and buildings, and exemption of the tax on the use of land and buildings, exemption from the urban delineation tax and, why not, exemption or reduction of the industry and commerce tax) and to which the benefit of works for taxes will be extended, allowing companies to allocate part of the money they would pay in taxes to the creation of cultural infrastructure in such areas.

In addition to all this, there are other benefits introduced by the Government in the last PND that have gone practically unnoticed: the creation of a stock market for SMEs, where shares and debt securities can be traded for up to $20. 013 million per issuer, which will allow entrepreneurs to access a market that until now was only restricted to large companies, and the possibility that contributions or donations made by investors to orange economy projects, previously selected in a call made by the Ministry of Culture, will be extended the benefit conferred to contributions or donations made to film projects (165% deduction).

There are those who criticize the tax benefits granted to the orange economy saying that they should also be transferred to the partners of the beneficiary companies (as was the case with the tax benefits of the book law) and that it is not possible to conceive this as a benefit, since although their income is exempt, the exoneration of social security contributions on employees earning less than 10 Smlmv is not applicable to them. The truth is that the benefits are substantial, maybe not perfect or grandiose (such as those granted to the film industry), but sufficient to encourage the development of this public policy.