At first debate the urgent Law on Development and Fiscal Sustainability

This Tuesday, November 16, at 09:00, the plenary session of the National Assembly is called to know and process the report for the first debate of the urgent project on Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability.

The report failed to be approved by the Economic Development Commission unanimously, there were only six votes in favor. This project reforms 20 legal bodies of different matters, contains 207 articles, 8 general provisions, 15 transitory provisions, 1 interpretative provision, 1 repealing provision and 1 final provision, whose purpose is to promote the sustainability of public finances, the reorganization of the system Ecuadorian tax and fiscal and legal security for the economic reactivation of Ecuador after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a report, the commission proposed a higher IR for those who earn $ 2,500 and contribution to companies with $ 4 million of equity

Wilma Andrade, delegate of the Democratic Left, warned that the report did not include some issues that caused noise and the report did not include some observations, such as those raised by the productive sectors that were radical, such as not giving way to anything on the subject tax or contributions, since they aspire that the contributions are given through a tax credit and for the Government it would only be to delay the problem for the next government.

On the tax issue, the debate focused on the percentage of the calculation base, added Andrade, who commented that it was left to the consideration of the plenary session so that in that scenario some observations can be established and then incorporated for the second debate to the extent that that there is agreement.

There are other issues that, although they are small, in the urgent project cause concern, such as, for example, that professional associations are expected to charge VAT, in the fees paid by their partners. On this, the national legislator said, there is a prior agreement that this reform should be left out.

They also spoke of the need to avoid being charged with VAT to the technological issue and web pages, when at this time there must be more openness.

The Pachakutik sector, according to legislator Cristian Yucailla, is concerned about the reforms to the hydrocarbon sector where the State proposes the optimization of income through an increase in oil production, as well as the reduction of costs in industrialization, transportation and commercialization of hydrocarbons and their derivatives by encouraging private participation in exploration, exploitation and commercialization.

The reforms seek to create new legal mechanisms for the application of new contractual modalities for exploration and exploitation.

For Yucailla, these reforms privatize all services related to oil exploration and exploitation, without taking into consideration the social situation of the communities, he said. (I)