Análisis de la figura de los precios públicos frente a las tasas y tributos: estudio de caso en Pereira a partir del Acuerdo 078 de 2008

Abstract

This article analyzes the legal and constitutional tension between the concepts of public prices and tax-like fees (tasas), focusing on the case of Pereira’s Municipal Agreement 078 of 2008, which regulated the commercial use of public space. Through a descriptive-explanatory approach based on jurisprudential and doctrinal analysis, it examines how the local administration attempted to present a compulsory charge as a consensual contractual "public price" by applying rigid formulas such as the Unit of Value for Urban Furniture (UVA) and the Unit of Value for Public Space (UVEP). The study delves into the ruling of the Administrative Court of Risaralda on July 3, 2025, which declared the partial nullity of this tariff structure upon proving that it operated as a de facto fee or "shadow tax" unilaterally imposed without prior legislative authorization from Congress, violating the principles of legality and reserve of law. Finally, the paper offers a critique of the impact of these levies on the right to work and the basic livelihood (mínimo vital) of small-scale informal merchants, proposing technical alternatives to bridge the current regulatory vacuum through either a genuine bilateral public contract or a national enabling law.