Santo Domingo.- If passed by Congress the bill to rationalize revenue expenses and incentives would not only raise prices of all petroleum based fuels, it would also eliminate incentives of the power companies classified as EGP.
A first draft that the Government analyzes to submit to Congress specifies that the proposal maintains the tax breaks for the power companies (EGE) which sell energy to the national grid, as well as special contracts.
It also maintains the 16% Selective Tax on Consumption on the product’s value, as Law 557-05 stipulated, amended by Law 495-06 in effect.
Another key point in the legislation is that the Ministry Treasury will now adjust fuel prices weekly, as well as to decide on requests for tax breaks under Law 112-00,
The bill doesn’t mention the special regimes stipulated in the laws on Border Incentive and Free Zones companies that don’t receive their exemption for fuels based on Law 112-00, and instead abide by specific laws in effect.
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
Who has done the analysis to say that the statements here are correct ,,what is the source ??
From: United States, New Haven, CT
Why don't they just eliminate the political part subsidy established by the JCE, that should give back the people's gov. a couple of Billion dollars.
Everything goes up in DR except working class salaries...
The gov. might as well be ran by a bunch of monkeys.
Written by: juanb, 22 Jul 2010 11:04 AM
From: Dominican Republic
They are a bunch of burros. Don't insult monkeys.
Written by: Escott, 22 Jul 2010 11:51 AM
From: Dominican Republic, Cabrera and Sosua a 2 days a month for payday
Ricardolito, you are questioning the source of the GOVERNMENT? You are starting to sound like JuanB.
LOL
From: United States
three letters, folks. IMF.
Written by: juanb, 22 Jul 2010 1:55 PM
From: Dominican Republic
Q:
How glad are the gobernista that they have the Agosto case to take the spotlight off their malfeasance?
A:
VERY GLAD
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
no Escott I am questioning the analysis of the tax increases as reported here and also the accuracy of another story here about the tax increases and changes ..the translations here from other sources leave a lot to be desired on some occasions and in the two articles about the tax changes I think it is most misleading .
I think the story should read that the government is going to increase taxes on petrol and other fuel by between 10 and 20% and this will increase the price at the pump by between 6 and 10 pesos .But as industry is a large user of petrol and other fuels, the cost of production will go up and the competitiveness of Dominican products will decline .Already the cost of fuel in this country is higher than in nearly all Latin American countries.
The petrol rises will lead to inflation and the cost of living will increase for everyone who uses transport or buys Dominican products .In my opinion it is a very bad way to raise more revenue .
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
I am sure,Dreads, that the IMF has requested the Dominican government to have an even budget or even a small surplus ..it has suggested this to many countries but we are still well inside the IMF guidelines on borrowing ,
The big difference here in the DR to other countries is that say in Britain , France and Germany the governments are introducing expenditure cuts rather than increasing taxes .Here in the DR , a cut on wasteful expenditure seems never to be contemplated ..if we were efficient , we could achieve the same result as tax increases.
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 7:32 AM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
Expenditure in the DR is very low to reduce further would not be sensible.
S.
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
expenditure and wastage are both very high in the DR and maybe the first place to trim is in the salaries of the politicians and the fringe benefits and then look at the projects that make no sense ..then when the razor gang has finished their work , there would probably be a more balanced budget
From: United States
you might be well within the guidelines of borrowing, but the IMF wants to be sure you are within the guidelines of repayment.
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 9:06 AM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
public housing, roads, education, investment in bus services, sewers, water supplies all need incrased spend.
Also free school diners and better social security are needed.
The problem is to reduce imports. Perhaps more import taxes on luxury goods.
S.
From: United States
that may be so, ABC. however, when you borrow huge sums of money, sometimes the lender gets to have a say in how yuou conduct your business. that way they are partially assured that you can pay them back. public spending by governments sorta screws up their balance sheets
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
I should be surprised that this very important subject has not attracted some good quality responses ,,,the proposed taxes of between 10 and 20 % on fuels has the potential to cause massive increases in inflation in the DR, could wreck many lives and could make many products uneconomical to produce ..How can we compete internationally if our taxes and government red tape is so high ??
This proposed tax is ludicrous and needs to be replaced by a review of unnecessary government spending
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 7:57 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
The trick is not to borrow money. You only need to borrow money if the money is leaving the country.
In Japan post war the trick was to get people to save.
http://www.jref.com/society/japan_postwar_economic_miracle.shtmlAlso the government stratigically decided which sectors to invest in both for internal consumption - e.g. new housing, rice / food production etc. and external electronics etc.
In post war germany there was a compulsory 'tax' surcharge - used to purchase a bond.
In the UK every school had to have a savings club - used to buy saving stamps issued by the government later to be converted into savings certificates in order to finance the enormous social building programs ( e.g. 400,000 new houses in one year and whole new townships )
So many people carried on growing food in the back garden, pig clubs etc. with little personal consumption requiring imports.
Savings were spent by the government on the social programmes and competitiveness
From: United States
and, ABC, with so many people living hand to mouth here, that would work just peachy
From: United States
ABC, i do not believe that you are familiar with the real dominican republic. i believe you just hang out in Las Terrenas with the expatriate mafia, and eat scones, and drink perrier all day. i do not believe that you have experienced really poor dominicans.
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 8:11 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
of the countries improved as did livestyles.
Also the government loans to private companies conditional on providing employment in many cases worked as did the research programs in the universities, and the general expansion of education.
There is a nice fictional TV series Heimat which describes post war Germany.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimat_(film)S.
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 8:30 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
I have met many. But I do not think it is so different than UK in 40's and early 50's in many parts of the UK. Farmers eking out an existance on small plots of land growing potatoes and keeping pigs living in tumble down damp decaying houses.
Their income was so uncertain that the government controlled the potato marketing so each farmer was assured of some income.
But I would guess at least 30% of Dominicans could easily save more. Those without work could clear land, provide irrigation with low technology and increase the food production at not too high a wage financed from this saving; or pehaps in the case of younger people form a land army with no or little pay but basic accomodation etc.. The British Land Army contiued for 5 years after the end of WW2 developing timber and agriculture. All the workers were volunteers!
http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmmanage/working/wla/index.htmAlso build fairly low tech basic houses for rent subsidised at first.
From: United States
ABC, i know you do not get away from the salubrious gringo colony of Las Terrenas often enough to see the real DR. let me help you. this is not Germany, nor England. there are some really POOR people here. your prescriptions are not applicable here. that might be a good thing.
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 8:43 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
What goes wrong exactly if there are compulsory and voluntary savings schemes to provide for development and loans for importing cars are made harder? Tell me. What goes wrong if schemes for young people to work assisting development of the country are made widespread?
S.
From: United States
apparently, ABC, you do not understand the concept of DISCRETIONARY INCOME. People can only save from what is left over , after expenses. so, compulsory saving initiatives are moot, when there IS NOTHING left to save. go pitch your scheme to Belkis, who just pawned the gas cylinder in order to raise 1000 pesos to buy ampicillin for Moises.
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 9:09 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
There are aa good proportion of Domicans with discretionary income. There is lotto everywhere and the amounts are not trivial. I knew two owners. Cockfighting - owners buy expensive drugs and pump them into the birds before the fight to make them agressive. Stakes are often not trivial.
Perhaps attach a savings system to the lotto. Car imports are up.
S.
From: United States
groan..
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 9:31 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
Anyway higher taxes on gas sounds good to me! Perhaps some tv programmes and handouts at gas stations on economical driving would help also. Seems good proportion of Dominicans on motorbikes and in cars accelerate to the max!
S.
From: United States
groan..
Written by: abc200, 23 Jul 2010 9:40 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
Who said LT is a gringo colony anyway. Plenty of Dominicans.
S.
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
I can not believe what I am reading here from abc ..where does he come up with these notions ,,??it is like history rewritten as a fairy story
From: United States
i have been there. that is why i say it.
Written by: abc200, 24 Jul 2010 1:19 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
Ok Rich - Japan, Germany, UK started with little in 1945. You tell me the savings ratios post war. You tell me if Japan helped its rice farmers grow more, UK its potato farmers, Germany, France all farmers.
The secret of development is a philosophy of thrift, savings, large scale organisation by the government plus effective directed private enterprise.
Eventually you get a POD, property owning democracy, where most people have a stake in society.
Governments promote local production to the people only importing goods to build productive resources.
In the UK for example a huge number of people had national savings stamp books. Stamps could be bought for small change. When the book was full it was exchanged for a 1 pound savings certifiate that could be cashed after 1 year or more.
S.
S.
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
Germany and Japan before the war were power houses of industrial economy and had a good rural economy also ,,that is how they were able to be so powerful in equipping and feeding huge armies ..England between the wars was still a huge economy but emphasis was in the manufacturing industry ..there was rationing in WW2 and after but the Commonwealth countries sent huge amounts of food to the UK---everyone had a ration books but still paid for all food ..savings books were popular in all commonwealth countries ..
As for development ,the basis is land (property),labour, capital and initiative ,,,the latter often expressed in other words (inventiveness,brain power) ..this is the classic 4 tier basis of development ..it can be debunked quite easily these days but up until the mid 1950,s this was the theory . Now we can see countries develop without land and we can see how countries with inventiveness can grow faster than countries with the other three ingredients .
Written by: abc200, 24 Jul 2010 5:03 PM
From: United Kingdom, Dominican Republic
After the war UK had much saving. This internal saving was used to financed developemt. Ditto Japan. Imports of foreign goods to Japan was negliable.
The point I make is that if a government can get its people to save money, along with taxes this can finance faster development. Some of this spending is long term such as construction of new towns in the UK and most times private enterprise doesn't do this so well.
Internal spending should be such that imports are not sucked in. Ration books were used so that for example local potatoes were consumed and not so much bread etc. using imported grain.
Although the food was not free and was on ration many items were subsidised. Coal, steel, bricks were allocated according to priorities.
But regarless of the position pre war after huge destruction a massive transformation was made.
Hong Kong housing - a huge program from 1975 was also financed in great measure by internal saving.
S.
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Everything goes up in DR except working class salaries...
The gov. might as well be ran by a bunch of monkeys.
LOL
How glad are the gobernista that they have the Agosto case to take the spotlight off their malfeasance?
A:
VERY GLAD
I think the story should read that the government is going to increase taxes on petrol and other fuel by between 10 and 20% and this will increase the price at the pump by between 6 and 10 pesos .But as industry is a large user of petrol and other fuels, the cost of production will go up and the competitiveness of Dominican products will decline .Already the cost of fuel in this country is higher than in nearly all Latin American countries.
The petrol rises will lead to inflation and the cost of living will increase for everyone who uses transport or buys Dominican products .In my opinion it is a very bad way to raise more revenue .
The big difference here in the DR to other countries is that say in Britain , France and Germany the governments are introducing expenditure cuts rather than increasing taxes .Here in the DR , a cut on wasteful expenditure seems never to be contemplated ..if we were efficient , we could achieve the same result as tax increases.
S.
Also free school diners and better social security are needed.
The problem is to reduce imports. Perhaps more import taxes on luxury goods.
S.
This proposed tax is ludicrous and needs to be replaced by a review of unnecessary government spending
In Japan post war the trick was to get people to save.
http://www.jref.com/society/japan_postwar_economic_miracle.shtml
Also the government stratigically decided which sectors to invest in both for internal consumption - e.g. new housing, rice / food production etc. and external electronics etc.
In post war germany there was a compulsory 'tax' surcharge - used to purchase a bond.
In the UK every school had to have a savings club - used to buy saving stamps issued by the government later to be converted into savings certificates in order to finance the enormous social building programs ( e.g. 400,000 new houses in one year and whole new townships )
So many people carried on growing food in the back garden, pig clubs etc. with little personal consumption requiring imports.
Savings were spent by the government on the social programmes and competitiveness
Also the government loans to private companies conditional on providing employment in many cases worked as did the research programs in the universities, and the general expansion of education.
There is a nice fictional TV series Heimat which describes post war Germany.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimat_(film)
S.
Their income was so uncertain that the government controlled the potato marketing so each farmer was assured of some income.
But I would guess at least 30% of Dominicans could easily save more. Those without work could clear land, provide irrigation with low technology and increase the food production at not too high a wage financed from this saving; or pehaps in the case of younger people form a land army with no or little pay but basic accomodation etc.. The British Land Army contiued for 5 years after the end of WW2 developing timber and agriculture. All the workers were volunteers!
http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmmanage/working/wla/index.htm
Also build fairly low tech basic houses for rent subsidised at first.
S.
Perhaps attach a savings system to the lotto. Car imports are up.
S.
S.
S.
The secret of development is a philosophy of thrift, savings, large scale organisation by the government plus effective directed private enterprise.
Eventually you get a POD, property owning democracy, where most people have a stake in society.
Governments promote local production to the people only importing goods to build productive resources.
In the UK for example a huge number of people had national savings stamp books. Stamps could be bought for small change. When the book was full it was exchanged for a 1 pound savings certifiate that could be cashed after 1 year or more.
S.
S.
As for development ,the basis is land (property),labour, capital and initiative ,,,the latter often expressed in other words (inventiveness,brain power) ..this is the classic 4 tier basis of development ..it can be debunked quite easily these days but up until the mid 1950,s this was the theory . Now we can see countries develop without land and we can see how countries with inventiveness can grow faster than countries with the other three ingredients .
The point I make is that if a government can get its people to save money, along with taxes this can finance faster development. Some of this spending is long term such as construction of new towns in the UK and most times private enterprise doesn't do this so well.
Internal spending should be such that imports are not sucked in. Ration books were used so that for example local potatoes were consumed and not so much bread etc. using imported grain.
Although the food was not free and was on ration many items were subsidised. Coal, steel, bricks were allocated according to priorities.
But regarless of the position pre war after huge destruction a massive transformation was made.
Hong Kong housing - a huge program from 1975 was also financed in great measure by internal saving.
S.