Who pays the taxes in Ecuador

• VAT (value-added tax) $11.1 B · 51.5%
• Income tax $6.8 B · 31.5%
• Currency outflow tax (ISD) $1.3 B · 6.0%
• Excise tax (ICE) $745 M · 3.5%
• Contributions and levies $589 M · 2.7%
• Mining taxes $310 M · 1.4%
• Adjustments and reconciliation $275 M · 1.3%
• Vehicle taxes $265 M · 1.2%

Of every 100 dollars the SRI collects, 52 come from VAT and 31 from income tax. In other words: Ecuador's treasury rests on what people consume, not on what they earn. A consumption tax is paid by whoever buys, whatever they earn, so that proportion also describes who carries the public spending.

And that dependence deepened by political decision: Executive Decree 198 raised the general VAT rate from 12% to 15% effective April 1, 2024. Comparing the same months, April through December, of the last full year before the change (2023) and the last one after (2025), collected VAT rose 33%, far above what the economy was growing.

Trade contributes 33.7% of the collection with an identified economic activity, consistent with a treasury that lives off VAT. It is followed by financial and insurance activities, and manufacturing.

The fastest-growing provinces · 2019–2025

• Zamora Chinchipe +683% from $109 M to $857 M
• Orellana +116% from $34 M to $74 M
• Santa Elena +93% from $31 M to $59 M
• Sucumbíos +76% from $22 M to $39 M
• Manabí +71% from $263 M to $451 M

The jump of Zamora Chinchipe, 683% in 6 years, coincides with large-scale mining entering production: its two mining cantons appear among the country's top taxpayers, above entire provincial capitals.

How those sales split · 2025

50.3% taxed 35.6% zero-rated 14.1% exports

Only half of what is sold in Ecuador pays VAT: 35.6% goes zero-rated, the category the law reserves for goods and services such as food in its natural state, medicines, education or health care (Ley de Régimen Tributario Interno, arts. 55 and 56), and another 14.1% are exports, which by definition carry none. There lies the reason a 15% tax yields far less than its rate suggests.

Declared sales by sector · 2025

• Trade $118.8 B
• Manufacturing $37.7 B
• Agriculture and fishing $25.8 B
• Transportation $13.6 B
• Professional services $10.3 B
• Mining and quarrying $9.1 B

Of every 100 dollars collected in 2025

94.7% companies 5.3% individuals

Companies contribute $19.9 B and individuals $1.1 B. And the gap widens: in 2017 individuals put in 7.2% of the total and today 5.3%, even though millions of people keep an active RUC.

It is the exact mirror of the split shown by the tax debt: there, individuals are the vast majority of debtors but a minor fraction of the money. A fabric of very many small businesses and a few companies that move, and pay, nearly everything.