Ecuador to push tax overhaul bill, rich to pay more

QUITO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Saturday said he would introduce a proposal next week to overhaul the tax laws and force the rich to pay more duties.

"In the next few days we will send the assembly a tax reform bill ... a reform to make sure those who have more pay more, tax luxury goods and impose duties on financial speculation," Correa said during his weekly radio address.

The president will send his proposal to an assembly controlled by his political party that took over legislative powers this week and closed down Congress, increasing the influence of the leftist president, who wants to extend state control over the country's economy.

In the address, Correa did not specify what he meant by financial speculation. But officials have said the government is drafting a bill to tax foreign money transfers in an effort to halt financial speculation and generate incentives for private funds to be invested in the poor Andean nation.

Correa did not say if the bill would lower the key value-added tax to 10 percent from 12 percent, as he had promised during his presidential campaign last year.

The president's tax proposals worry Wall Street analysts, who say deep reforms could scare off foreign investment and hurt Ecuador's ability to repay foreign debt.

Correa also said he removed Mauricio Davalos from his Cabinet. Davalos was considered one of the most pragmatic members of Correa's team, but the former businessman lacked the authority to change economic policy.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto)