Ecuador referendum on tax justice
NSCAG News |
on: Monday, 6 February 2017
The Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign has added its name to a statement welcoming the national referendum on tax havens being held in Ecuador on 19 February.
The statement has been produced by the Friends of Ecuador and Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America.
There has never been a more important time to build a global consensus for tax justice. If you would like to add your name to the statement, please email friendsofecuadoruk@gmail.com
The full text of the statement is shown below:-
On February 19 Ecuador is set to hold a national referendum on tax havens.
The people will be asked if politicians and public servants should be barred from office if they hide assets in tax havens.
It is estimated that $30 billion dollars, a sum equivalent to one third of Ecuador’s GDP, is hidden away in tax havens abroad. That’s around $2,000 for every Ecuadorian – money that could be contributing towards tax revenues, stimulating growth and funding jobs.
Ecuador is by no means unusual. According to Oxfam, wealthy individuals alone have $7.6 trillion dollars hidden in tax havens worldwide, and that’s not including the wealth of multinational corporations.
Since the Panama Papers, there has never been more public outrage on this issue, or a better time to construct a global consensus powerful enough to overcome the huge vested interests at play.
We welcome this innovative referendum and Ecuador’s call for an intergovernmental UN body to bring an end to the era of tax havens. We hope that this leadership will inspire other governments to make bold moves too against one of the most unjust parts of our global economy.
