Ecuador’s Lasso Moves to Hit the Ground Running With Tax Reform

• Ecuador’s President-elect Guillermo Lasso plans to introduce tax reforms as soon as he takes office next month. The reforms would be aimed at encouraging commerce and boosting government revenue with an eye on balancing the budget by the end of his term.
• The 65-year-old career banker, who with Sunday’s election victory, will become the first fiscal conservative to govern Ecuador in close to two decades, wants to cut taxes rather than increase them. Lasso is banking on the combination of lower tax rates and stepped-up collection that deters tax evasion to balance the budget.
• The president-elect’s plans run counter to suggestions from the International Monetary Fund, which has yet to distribute $2.5 billion of a $6.5 billion funding agreement signed last year, that Ecuador raises its 12% value-added tax, one of the lowest in the region.
• Instead, Lasso wants the new tax system to allow a cut in VAT during four annual holidays to stimulate retail and tourism. His plan aims to end a 2% tax on sales for small companies -- on the premise that taxes should be paid on profits rather than sales -- and to phase out a 5% currency export tax that’s undermined foreign direct investment.
• Lasso will need to build bridges with other political parties to advance his agenda and making decisions contrary to IMF suggestions could impact the government’s ability to attract more funding from the institution to support economic and fiscal recovery.

(Source: Bloomberg & NCBCM Research)