Crisis of the Ecuadorian tax system and the challenges to the principle of sufficiency in tax collection.
Keywords:
Tax sufficiency, fiscal crisis, withholding agents, tax evasion, economic sustainabilityAbstract
The Ecuadorian fiscal system faces a structural crisis that endangers its sustainability and the effectiveness of public management. The violation of the principle of tax sufficiency has generated a gap between the State’s financial needs and its real capacity for revenue collection, affecting social investment and economic development. Poor tax administration, combined with tax evasion and lack of transparency in public spending, perpetuates institutional inefficiency. Likewise, withholding agents face difficulties in fulfilling their fiscal duties, revealing the need for structural reforms to strengthen monitoring, control, and enforcement mechanisms. The crisis is further aggravated by limited productive diversification and dependence on volatile income sources such as oil revenues, compromising budgetary stability. Overcoming this situation requires restructuring the tax system, fostering a culture of fiscal responsibility, and designing public policies that ensure equity, transparency, and revenue sufficiency. Only through comprehensive reform can citizen trust be restored and the long-term sustainability of the Ecuadorian State guaranteed.
Downloads
References
Andino, M. (2009). Hacia un nuevo sistema de Imposición Directa. El Impuesto a la Renta para el Ecuador: un sistema distributivo. Cuadernos de Formación. Colaboración, 13(09), 5-49. https://www.ief.es/docs/destacados/publicaciones/revistas/cf/08_01.pdf
Banca Mundial. (2021). COVID-19: Tax Policy and Revenue Administration Implications Potential Tax Policy, Tax Administration, and Customs Measures to Respond to the Crisis. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/404721624429641344/pdf/COVID-19-Tax-Policy-and-Revenue-Administration-Implications-Potential-Tax-Policy-Tax-Administration-and-Customs-Measures-to-Respond-to-the-Crisis.pdf
Cabanellas, G. (2020). Diccionario Enciclopédico de Derecho Usual. Heliasta.
Ecuador. Asamblea Nacional Constituyente. (2008). Constitución de la República del Ecuador. Registro Oficial N. 449. https://www.oas.org/juridico/pdfs/mesicic4_ecu_const.pdf
Ecuador. Congreso Nacional. (2005). Código Tributario. Registro Oficial Suplemento N. 38. https://www.ces.gob.ec/lotaip/2018/Agosto/Anexos-literal-a2/CODIGO%20TRIBUTARIO.pdf
Ecuador. Presidencia de la República. (2021). Ley Orgánica para el Desarrollo Económico y Sostenibilidad Fiscal tras la Pandemia COVID-19. Registro Oficial Suplemento N. 587. https://www.produccion.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2021/12/Ley-Organica-para-el-Desarrollo-Economico-y-Sostenibilidad-Fiscal-tras-la-Pandemia-Covid-19.pdf
Gómez, J., & Morán, D. (2020). Estrategias para abordar la evasión tributaria en América Latina y el Caribe: avances en su medición y panorama de las medidas recientes para reducir su magnitud (No. 46301). CEPAL. https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/98857a8e-ad37-4f1b-9d0d-2acc73172136/content
Gualán, M. (2020). Sociedades como agente de retención de percepción y sus formalidades en el proceso contable [Tesis de grado, Universidad Técnica de Machala].
Jorratt de Luis, M. (2020). Análisis del gasto tributario y propuestas de incentivos fiscales a la inversión y al empleo en Ecuador. Departamento de Estudios Tributarios SRI. https://repositorio.flacsoandes.edu.ec/bitstream/10469/3870/1/REXTN-F04-01-Jorratt.pdf
Le Fort Varela, G., Gallardo, B., & McRostie Bustamante, F. (2020). Estabilidad macroeconómica y crecimiento económico: mitos y realidades. CEPAL N° 131, 119-144. https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/c829c76c-0ab1-4a02-bf39-1dc9d82146db/content
Loyola-Torres, F., & Cordero-Guzmán, D. (2022). Régimen simplificado para emprendedores y negocios populares. Revista Arbitrada Interdisciplinaria KOINONIA, 7(1), 734-760. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8552204.pdf
Massa, S. (2023). Argentina to all but end income tax as election spending spurs inflation. https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/economy/argentina-to-all-but-end-income-tax-as-election-spending-spurs-inflation.phtml
Reyes, A., & Matute, J. (2024). El Régimen RIMPE y su incidencia en la recaudación tributaria del impuesto a la renta en personas naturales no obligadas a llevar contabilidad del sector turístico de Guayaquil, periodo 2020-2023. Ciencia Latina: Revista Multidisciplinar, 8(6), 259-282. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/9936530.pdf
Serrano, L. (2020). Manual de Obligaciones Tributarias. Ediciones Jurídicas.
Serrano-Orellana, K., Sousa-Barros, I., & Chang-Fernández, A. (Comp.). (2025). Transformación digital, tributación y nuevas tecnologías: Estudios aplicados en el contexto empresarial ecuatoriano. Sophia Editions.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Marcelo Raúl Dávila-Castillo, Jessica Johanna Santander-Moreno, Rosa Evelyn Chugá-Quemac
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in Revista UGC agree to the following terms:
1. Copyright
Authors retain unrestricted copyright to their work. Authors grant the journal the right of first publication. To this end, they assign the journal non-exclusive exploitation rights (reproduction, distribution, public communication, and transformation). Authors may enter into additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal, provided that acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal is given.
© The authors.
2. License
The articles are published in the journal under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). The terms can be found at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en
This license allows:
- Sharing: Copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format.
- Adapting: Remixing, transforming, and building upon the material.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if any changes were made. You may do this in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses or sponsors your use.
- NonCommercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- ShareAlike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your creation under the same license as the original work.
There are no additional restrictions. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
