Amid uncertainty over the lack of votes for the executive’s proposal to increase value added tax (VAT) to 15%, a third Christian Socialist report with alternatives to avoid the increase has been announced. tax.

The President of the Commission for Economic Development, Valentina Centeno (ADN), pointed out that there is still time to approve the majority report for the first debate on the project that wants to apply the VAT increase to 15% as a temporary measure that will allow the government to collect about 1.3 billions of dollars to finance the internal armed conflict, social and economic crisis in the country.

There is still no date or time for the legislative committee meeting to approve the document to be submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly, but Correismo’s delegate to the commission, Blasco Luna, presented the text of the minority report, as would Christian Socialist Jorge Acaiturri- Villa because they do not agree with the VAT increase to 15%. The difference between these two political forces lies in the alternatives they present instead of increasing the value added tax.

Members of parliament raise the alarm in order to prevent the executive project increasing VAT to 15 percent from passing through the Ministry of Law

Legislator Valentina Centeno (ADN), He said that the law presented by the executive power undoubtedly needs discussion, and the President of the Republic, Daniel Noboa, stated that he would even be willing to consider the fact that the VAT increase could be a temporary measure.

In addition, there was talk of targeting subsidies, bank taxes and corporate income taxes; In other words, “on behalf of the Government, the ruling party and the presidency of the Commission, everything was done to make the law ready for voting”, the national legislator emphasized.

Centeno stated that he was “surprised that the members of the assembly are against financing the war, that they are against getting out of this insecurity and the recovery of our country, which at this moment needs resources to be able to finance the war”.

As for the temporary nature, the Government legislator announced that the VAT increase to 15 percent will be for two years, despite the fact that it is right and responsible to start having permanent resources.

The legislator insisted that the increase in VAT will not affect the poorest Ecuadorian families, because the products in the basic basket will not be touched or taxed, and stated that the increase in VAT is important for two reasons: the amount of collection and immediacy, because although there are others proposals put forward by political sectors such as special contributions from banks and profits, directing subsidies and income tax, but these funds will only be collected at the end of the year, he noted.

Centeno clarified that he will adhere to time and law in the legislative commission; “We don’t want to go beyond the rules or commit any kind of illegality here, what we want is to start a discussion and stop seeing this as a political show or an election campaign.”

Faced with the Social Christians’ announcement that they would submit a minority report, the legislator was sure that the PSC would not go that way, and that there would only be two reports, but that the one submitted by them as the majority would prevail.

Jorge Acaiturri-Villa of the social-Christian bench He said that the presentation of the minority report in the emergency project proposing an increase in VAT is being analyzed and that the document will present some alternatives. He emphasized then that no one can completely close themselves to dialogue, even worse at this moment in which the country finds itself.

But that the PSC will propose as an alternative to the VAT increase a contribution that will be paid by companies that generate profits and that in two years the state could collect 1,040 million dollars, resources that will be used to finance the conflict. In addition, he talked about directing fuel subsidies where there would be about 2000 million dollars.

“We believe that VAT is a regressive tax and that it is the most unfair tax anywhere in the world, because it is paid equally by the poor and the rich,” said the PSC representative in Guayas. Another of Acaiturri-Villa’s proposals is to reduce the size of the state, but not in a demagogic way.

Vice President of the Committee for Economic Development, Blasco Luna (RC) ratified the presentation of the minority report proposing four alternatives: increasing the tax on foreign exchange outflows (ISD) to 6%; apply a 1% tax on large fortunes above $1,000,000; Likewise, the tax on extraordinary profits for banks and pharmaceutical companies.

Luna commented that the general approach of the Republic of Croatia is to give a special contribution to different sectors, but that they will not vote for the text of the project that was initially presented by the Government, and they hope that this proposal will be archived and start processing. with a minority report.

The representative of the Republic of Croatia called on other legislators who are against reaching into citizens’ pockets with an increase in VAT to unite in order to include a special tax contribution in the executive bill. large economic groups.