# 2017 Ecuadorian tax haven referendum

A referendum on banning politicians and civil servants from having bank accounts or companies based in tax havens was held in Ecuador on 19 February 2017, alongside general elections. The proposal was approved by voters, giving officials one year to transfer their assets or be removed from their posts.
The question on the ballot was "Do you agree that, for those holding a popularly elected office or for public servants, there should be a prohibition on holding assets or capital, of any nature, in tax havens?"

## Classification of tax havens

In preparation for the referendum, the Ecuadorian Internal Revenue Service issued a resolution outlining the criteria for a jurisdiction to be considered a tax haven, establishing two categories: Preferential tax regimes, and low tax jurisdictions. A preferential tax regime was classed as a jurisdiction whose effective tax rate is below 60% in relation to the Ecuadorian corporate income tax (CIT) rate of 13.2%. A low tax jurisdiction was classed as having an effective tax rate below 60% in relation to the Ecuadorian CIT of 13.2% and no substantial economic activity. The IRS may remove a country from their list of tax havens if it reforms its tax policy, if it enforces a treaty to avoid double taxation, including a special information exchange clause, or if its laws do not include banking confidentiality, securities or other regulations that prohibit sharing information with the Ecuadorian IRS.
Along with this definition, the Ecuadorian IRS published a list of countries which currently meet the definition of a tax haven under their law. This list included 28 jurisdictions in the Americas, 19 in Oceania, 16 in Europe, 13 in Asia, 9 in Africa and two other island territories.
| Africa  Angola  Cape Verde  Djibouti  Liberia  Mauritius  Nigeria  Seychelles  Swaziland  Tunisia | Americas  American Samoa  Anguilla  Antigua and Barbuda  Aruba  Bahamas  Barbados  Belize  Bermuda  Bonaire  British Virgin Islands  Cayman Islands Cocos Island ( Costa Rica)  Curacao  Dominica  Greenland  Grenada  Guyana  Montserrat  Panama  Puerto Rico  Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Pierre and Miquelon  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Martin  Saint Helena  Saint Lucia  Trinidad and Tobago  Turks and Caicos Islands  United States Virgin Islands | Asia  Bahrain  Brunei Darussalam  Jordan  Kuwait  Labuan ( Malaysia)  Macau  Maldives  Myanmar  Oman Qeshm ( Iran)  Sri Lanka  United Arab Emirates  Yemen | Europe  Albania  Andorra  Azores ( Portugal) Campione d'Italia ( Italy) Channel Islands  Cyprus  Gibraltar  Isle of Man  Liechtenstein  Luxembourg  Madeira (Portugal)  Malta  Monaco Ostrava Free Zone ( Czech Republic)  San Marino Svalbard ( Norway)  Trieste (Italy) | Oceania  Christmas Island  Cook Islands  French Polynesia  Guam  Kiribati  Marshall Islands  Nauru  Niue  Norfolk Island (Australia)  Palau  Pitcairn Islands  Samoa  Solomon Islands  Tokelau  Tonga  Tuvalu  Vanuatu | Other  Ascension Island  Tristan da Cunha |

## Campaign

Outgoing President Rafael Correa stated that he would campaign in favour of the proposal, having previously stated that tax havens were one of the biggest issues for democracy.

## Results

| Choice | Votes | % |
| Yes | 5,030,579 | 55.12 |
| No | 4,096,559 | 44.88 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,336,496 | – |
| Total | 10,472,302 | 100 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 12,816,698 | 81.64 |
| Source: CNE Archived 2020-09-25 at the Wayback Machine |||