Businessman Álvaro Noboa invited President Rafael Correa to debate on topics such as the budget deficit, price inflation, the country’s slow rate of economic development, and how – according to the businessman – the IRS is used as a tool of political persecution. The former presidential candidate stated that it was unfair of the government to want to collect $90 million in taxes for the year 2005 while between $200,000 and $700,000 was collected from other businesses exporting the same quantity of product.