On February 19 Ecuador is set to become the first country to hold a national referendum over the issue of tax havens.

If the referendum is passed, politicians and public servants will have a year from the referendum date to repatriate their money (from tax havens) or face the sack.

It is estimated that $30 billion dollars, a sum equivalent to one third of Ecuador’s GDP, is hidden away in tax havens abroad.

Ecuador is by no means alone. According to Oxfam, a conservative calculation of the money hidden in tax havens worldwide from wealthy individuals alone, not counting multinational corporations, is $7.6 trillion US dollars (see for example https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/06/uk-tax-haven-bermuda-financial-secrecy-offshore-companies )

Since the Panama papers, there has never been a better time to construct a global consensus powerful enough to overcome the huge vested interests at play.

We welcome this innovative referendum and hope that Ecuador’s leadership on this issue will inspire other governments to make bold moves too.

Yours,

Colin Burgon, Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America

Rosie Cooper MP

Victoria Brittain, Writer, Journalist & Playwright     

Gail Cartmail, Acting General Secretary, Unite

Dave Prentis, General Secretary, UNISON

Julie Morgan, Welsh AM

Neil Findlay MSP

Bruce Kent, Peace Campaigner

Shelly Asquith, Vice President (Welfare), National Union of Students

Andy de la Tour, Actor                       

John Hendy QC, Queen's Council Barrister   

Elaine Smith MSP

Mick Whelan, General Secretary, ASLEF

Mike Hedges, Welsh AM

Chris Williamson, Friends of Ecuador