The Constitutional Court will hold the first hearing, which is part of the processing or Legal Decree 742 to strengthen the economy known, with which the Government seeks to implement tax reform in order to reduce the tax burden on some 340,000 people, which would leave about 195 million dollars in the pockets of the population. In addition, it creates a progressive table for the payment of Rimpe, a tax on sports predictions, and sets a VAT of 12% on public events that are not cultural and artistic.

This Tuesday, the debate will be held electronically starting at 10:30 a.m. You must attend the event President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso; Minister of Economy and Finance, Pablo Arosemena; and the Attorney General, Juan Carlos Larrea. In accordance with the instructions of the Court, the hearing will be held via a digital platform. In addition, access to diligence will be limited to the above participants and the top ten amicus curiae that they have registered.

From June 2, twelve amicus curiae interested in giving an opinion on the topic of tax law. Those who presented them and were interested in participating in the debate had to register by e-mail to the Constitutional Court from Thursday, May 25, 2023, from 2:30 p.m. to Monday, June 5, 2023, until 10:00 a.m.

The court indicated that the parameters for participation will be determined in the afternoon before the hearing and that the staff of the office and the Department of Technology of the Constitutional Court will provide all the necessary assistance to those present to ensure the correct development of the hearing.

He will be able to follow the unannounced broadcast of the hearing via radio on the line or YouTube of the Constitutional Court, without questioning their arguments and proposals in written form until before giving their opinion.

Among the main objections to the proposed law are the following:

On the other hand, there are sectors that support the law, indicating that it would be positive to have more liquidity in citizens’ pockets and that it is fair to create taxes to collect taxes in sectors that did not pay taxes well. Several lawyers agree that it is the executive power that must define the urgency of the law, and the court must determine the constitutionality of the proposed law.

Meanwhile, a debate will be held on Thursday for the regulation of the law on free zones. This, on the other hand, tries to activate the creation of free zones through a private, public or mixed initiative, attract investments and create new jobs.

The Minister of Production and Foreign Trade, Julio José Prado, will attend this hearing, he confirmed this Monday. Asked about the ongoing process, he assessed that there is an evident intention of certain political sectors that the Constitutional Court does not deal with urgent legal decrees. This was seen in the requests amicus curiae in which it is indicated that it is not an urgent law. In this sense, Prado said that he presented arguments before the Court that show that it is contradictory that the same political organizations that previously supported the approval of the Code of Production, Trade and Investment (Copci) by urgent means, now consider that it is not This new law is urgent .

Prado believed that the process the Court follows for approving decree laws is correct. In any case, he commented that he hopes that the time the Court needs to solve the problem will not be longer than a month, because otherwise it would be considered too long, inconsistent with the economic urgency.